A Dark World Aches For A Splash Of The Sun
by BrittanySexPierce
Summary: When Brittany Pierce received an invitation for her and her family to spend a two week vacation back in her hometown, Lima, Ohio, for an all girl reunion of their high school Glee Club, she was already expecting to be in for a crazy time. She just had absolutely no idea of how crazy it would really get. Superpower/Zombie/Future!Fic. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! Had this idea a while back and decided to give it a try :) English is not my first language, so I'm sorry in advance for the mistakes that I'm sure you'll find.**

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.**

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"Girls, hurry up! We're going to miss the plane!" Brittany shouted to the stairs on her way to the kitchen. She grabbed a can of baby powder milk and put it in the baby bottle along with some warm water. She turned around and smiled at the sight of her son Aaron, who was half asleep in his high chair.

"Wake up sweetie, it's feeding time." Brittany said picking up the baby boy at the same time Hailey, her oldest child, entered the kitchen.

"I still don't understand why we don't drive there. It'd be much more fun," Hailey said while grabbing some bread and start making a sandwich.

Brittany let out a chuckle and looked at her daughter.

"You know how Lily is when she stays in the same place for a long time. She'd be impossible in a car ride that long."

"True, but I really hate planes." She wrapped the sandwich, turned around and ran up the stairs to get her bags.

"Hurry up, please!" Brittany called after her daughter again and placed a now sleeping Aaron in the baby seat.

Brittany had three kids. Hailey was the oldest with 16 years old, and had been kind of an accident. Brittany hadn't expected to be a mom that early in life. She had planned for a big dancing career and Hailey had come a little before time, but Brittany couldn't have been happier all the same. Her dreams were just delayed for a little longer. She definitely wanted more kids, but she decided to focus first on her dancing career for a while. When she got too old to dance professionally she decided to give Hailey a baby brother or sister and that's how Lily came into the picture. Lily was now 5 years old, and she was a persistent little nugget that nagged Brittany to no end with the idea of wanting a new sibling. Brittany always wanted to have lots of kids and with Lily always planting that thought in her head, she and her husband decided to try it one last time. That's how Aaron, just turned 8 months old, was born. All three of them were blue eyed blondes, only Hailey's hair was a shade darker and Aaron was the only one who had cat like eyes like his mommy.

Last year, her husband had been in a horrible bike accident and didn't make it, leaving the older blonde to take care of her children alone. It had been a horrible time in her life. She had just discovered that she was pregnant with Aaron when she received a call from the police. Her world had fallen apart, but she was forced to put herself together. She had to be strong for her kids.

Hailey came back in the kitchen with her bags, and sat in one of the bigger ones, letting out a tired sigh.

"There, my bags are here and Lily's are almost done."

"Almost? We have to go now, it can't be almost done!"

"Don't worry, it's just her toothbrush and when I passed the bathroom she was brushing her teeth, so she must be done by now."

"Thank God, but she should be here already. I'm going to check on her, get going, please. Get the bags to the cab, then come back and take Aaron, too."

Brittany ran up the stairs two by two and was out of breath. _God, I'm getting old. I can't even run up the stairs without my lungs popping out_. She let a small laugh at the thought but her smile dropped a little when she reached Lily's bedroom door.

The little girl was sitting on her bed, head down, and a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Oh, sweetie, what's wrong?" Brittany kneeled in front of the girl, cupping her cheeks and wiping the tear with her thumb.

"I don't know how to tie my shoelaces," the little girl answered in a whisper so soft that Brittany almost didn't hear it. "Daddy was teaching me how to do it."

"Oh honey," Brittany hugged her daughter, tears filling her eyes. She quickly wiped her tears and looked down to find sparkling blue eyes looking back at her.

"Mommy's going to tie them now because we are in a hurry, but I promise I'll teach you later, okay?"

Lily nodded but a sad expression was still on her face.

"Come on Lil, show Mommy that smile or the tickle monster is coming!"

Brittany saw the little girl fight off a smile and felt her own grow in her face. She really loved her kids always smiling.

"Okay, I warned you, if you don't smile, I don't think I have a choice." Then the older blonde attacked the little one's sides with her fingers, filling the room with her daughter's laughter. They both fell back on the bed and Brittany wrapped her arms around the little blonde and pulled her close to her chest at the same time Lily pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek. She loved this little moments, she felt so warm inside.

"I love you baby girl, but we really need to get going. You're going to have lots of fun, but we have to catch the plane first." She stood up and tied her daughter's shoes. "Come on, grab your bag and go to the cab. Hailey's already there, I'm going to get mine real quick."

Half hour later she was taking off from Los Angeles to her hometown, Lima, and she couldn't be more excited.

A month ago she was going through her e-mails when she saw a name she hadn't seen in ages. Quinn Fabray. Curiosity took over, and she clicked over the name.

_Hi guys!_

_Hope everyone is doing fine! So I was going through some pictures and saw some of our Glee Club days. It brought back so many memories that I decided to hold a Glee girl reunion. I know that the boys are doing the same thing at Kurt's house in New York – something about watching some lame NFL game or something, so let's have some fun on our own!_

_Summer break is almost over, so bring the kids and let's spend a couple of weeks together. You don't have to worry about anything; my place has room for everyone and lots of things to do. It'll be fun and it's an opportunity to see each other and catch up. I haven't seen some of you since we left high school and I think that is unacceptable. I miss my girls!_

_Let me know if you can make it or not so we can work on the details. I really hope everyone can make it. It'll be just like old times!_

_Hope to see you soon,_

_Quinn._

When they landed in Lima, everyone was a little cranky. Lily was a little moody for being trapped in her seat without being able to move for about six hours. The little turbulence at the landing had Hailey gripping her seat with all she had and shaky legs, and then there's Aaron who decided to poop his diaper when they were leaving the plane, and was now crying his lungs out. Brittany was starting to stress out, their bags weren't coming, and people were starting to look at her and her crying son with disapproving looks.

"Please, look for the bags and don't let Lily out of sight. I have to go to the bathroom to change Aaron," Brittany pleaded to her older daughter, who was still looking a little pale.

She took the diaper bag and headed to the bathroom.

"God, kid, this smell could wipe out an entire village," Brittany said, throwing the dirty diaper to the garbage can.

Aaron flashed his two bottom teeth smile and Brittany couldn't help but smile too.

"You're lucky you're cute." She applied some baby powder, a new diaper and washed her hands. "Come on, big boy, I really hope your sisters have the bags by now. Quinn must be here already to give us a ride."

Thankfully, the girls had the bags and were sitting in the chairs. As Brittany was walking to them she heard someone call her name.

"Brittany S. Pierce? Is that you?"

Brittany turned around and spotted another blonde walking towards her.

"Quinn? Quinn!"

Both blondes embraced, being careful not to smash little Aaron who was still in her mother's arms.

"Wow! Look at you! It's been more than 20 years and you didn't change a bit!" Quinn said with a huge smile on her face.

"You're one to talk, you look amazing, Quinn."

And it was true; Quinn had kept her hair shoulder length and was looking stunning. She was dressed in a casual yet classy top, skinny jeans and black heels to complete her outfit.

"And who is this handsome young man?" The shorter blonde asked turning to the little boy in Brittany's arms.

"Well, this little guy here is Aaron, and that two over there are my other spawns." Brittany turned to the sitting girls and beckoned them to join them. "This is Hailey, and the little munchkin is Lily."

"Hi."

"Hi."

Both of them said in unison.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Quinn, your mom's friend," Quinn smiled to them and they both returned it. "I have some kids of my own that are about your age, so I think you'll have a great time in Lima. They are very excited to meet you, so shall we get going? "

"Sure, I can't wait to meet everyone! Come on kids, grab your stuff and let's go."

They got in the car and both Lily and Aaron fell asleep almost instantly. Hailey got out her iPod and smiled at her mom's happiness, chatting nonstop with Quinn in the front seat, before closing her eyes and let her mind be taken by the music.

"So, who's coming? Is someone at your house already? Do they have kids? Do you have kids? Of course you have, you said you did a few minutes ago, silly me! Do you have a husband? Tell me everything!" Brittany said excitedly.

"Slow down Britt or I can't keep up." Quinn couldn't help but smile at her friend's enthusiasm that hadn't change a bit. "Well, yes I am married, but Alan's not here because this is a girls only kind of meeting, so I sent him away on vacation with his friends. I have kids yes, lots of them actually. Five, to be more precise."

"Five? Oh wow Quinn, you've been busy," Brittany laughed at her friend's reddening cheeks.

"But I think it's great, I love kids, but my career didn't allow me to have more, so I settled for three, which give me enough trouble as it is. What about the others?"

"Well, to answer your first torrent of questions, Mercedes arrived yesterday and has two kids. A boy named Jaden that is 12, and a girl, Tori, that is 5."

"Great! Lily's five too. I was afraid she wouldn't have someone to play."

"Don't worry, I have a six year old girl and I know they'll have plenty of fun."

"Good, now more, tell me more."

Quinn let out a laugh at the other blonde's eagerness.

"Tina and Rachel should arrive at the same time as us. They were on their way when I came to get you, so Mercedes stayed back in case they got there first."

"And Santana?" Brittany asked, dropping her smile a little.

"She said she'd come, but with Santana you never know," Quinn answered noting slight discomfort on the subject.

"Yeah, it'll be fun," Brittany tried to ease the tension a little. "So, what do you do for a living?"

Brittany really didn't have a clue of her friends' lives. She had moved to California to pursue her dancing career and between auditioning, working her ass off and small gigs she didn't have the time. Time passed and even if she had wanted to contact her old friends, she hadn't known what to say. Then she had met her husband, got pregnant and when Hailey was about two and she had got her body back, she went on tour with the big names of the musical industry. Now she didn't even know how many children her friends had nor if they even had kids at all. If they were married, what their job was… She didn't know them at all.

But she was determined to change that. This time she would not let her friends slip through her fingers again.

"I'm a scientist," Quinn answered with a shrug.

"For real?" Brittany asked in awe, making Quinn smile at her surprised expression.

"Yeah, I work for the government actually. I'm specialized in genetics and DNA evolution. I work at home, which I think is great 'cause I get to spent lots of time with my children."

"So this means you have a lab in your house?"

"Yup, I'll show you when I give everyone the tour."

"I always knew you were going places Quinn. You're amazing," Brittany said, genuinely happy with her friend.

"You're not so bad yourself, Miss-I-Toured-With-Every-Important-Pop-Artist-In-The-World."

"Yeah but that was a long time ago. Now I'm just a dance teacher and sometimes a personal trainer in my free time."

"And you have a rocking body that makes many 20 year olds jealous."

"I like to exercise; it's my way to clear my head."

She did run a lot this past year and 4 months. When her husband passed away she had to run to clear her head and to stop her from crying in front of her kids. She would run for miles without stopping, and most times she didn't even saw where she was going. When she came to herself she was always back at her front door with aching muscles and an equally aching heart.

The months passed by and she didn't stop running, only her muscles didn't hurt as bad, neither did her heart and she could actually give her kids a mother's comforting smile when she entered the door. They were always a very united and happy family, so when the kids lost their dad, Brittany had to be there for them, especially Hailey, since the other two didn't really understand what happened. She just knew she couldn't let them lose their mom too.

"We're here," Quinn's soft voice announced and got Brittany out of her thoughts.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Daniels," Quinn greeted the doorman with a polite smile.

"Good afternoon, Miss Roberts," The old man smiled back and pushed a button to open a set of massive gates.

"Miss Roberts?" Brittany asked.

"Nowadays, I'm Miss Fabray-Roberts," Quinn laughed.

Brittany looked out of the window and felt her chin fall. Right in front of her, the set of massive gates had opened to a road which led to what Quinn called her house. Well, in Brittany's opinion, it couldn't even be called a house. It was a huge, huge mansion that looked more like a hotel than a house. On both sides of the road there was a perfectly trimmed garden, with lots of flowers, bushes, trees and even a fountain.

"Damn, Q," she let out under her breath.

Brittany was so busy trying to absorb everything in her surroundings that she didn't notice several figures standing on the front porch.

When Quinn's car came to a stop, the passenger door was opened, and before she could process what was happening, Tina was wrapping her arms around Brittany in a tight embrace.

"Brittany! I missed you so much!" She heard Tina's muffled voice against her hair.

"Hi Tina, I've missed you too," Brittany smiled at one of her best friends in high school.

When they parted, Brittany looked around and saw some kids seated in the front porch chairs and then her eyes landed on both Mercedes and Rachel smiling back at her.

She had really missed her friends. She walked forward and hugged them both tightly.

"Girl, you look even better than 20 years ago!" Mercedes complimented her and looked over Brittany's shoulder. "And I assume those are yours?"

The blonde looked back and saw her children walking up to them. Hailey with Aaron hanging in one arm, and Lily clinging to the other.

"Yes, they are. This is Hailey, that is Lily and the little one is Aaron."

Everyone introduced themselves and Brittany learned that Tina had three children. Zach, who was 11, and a set of twins, a girl named Carson and a boy, Conner, that were 3.

Rachel had two kids, a boy and a girl. Sebastian was 8, and Eleanor was 7.

Quinn introduced her kids and she wasn't kidding. There were really five of them, elegant, perfect, and polite, Fabray style. Quinn also had a set of twins, Mallory and Matt that were 17, Johanna, who was 14, Zoey that was 6 and a 2-year-old named Abby.

They greeted and got to know each other for a few minutes. They were about to go inside to eat and put some of the younger ones napping when a car parked behind Quinn's and a beautiful woman stepped out of the car, baring the most amazing smile Brittany had ever seen.

"Hello ladies, miss me?" Santana said with her playful, confident smile.

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**A/N: Hope you liked it :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here is a new chapter :) Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: Once again, I owe nothing.**

"Santana!" Quinn launched herself from the stairs into the brunette's arms.

"Hi, Quinn, it's nice to see you too," Santana smiled sweetly at her friend.

"I though you weren't coming."

"Told you I was."

"Well, I'm glad! I missed you," Quinn pulled back from the hug and looked at Santana's car. "Huh, San? Is she going to come out?"

"Yeah, Elle is sulking since we left home," she rolled her eyes at her teenage daughter. "Whatever. Come on, let's say hi to everyone."

"Satan! Long time no see!" Mercedes smiled before wrapping her arms around Santana who was chuckling upon hearing her high school nickname.

"I knew you'd miss me," Santana said pulling back and turning to hug the person closest to her, which happened to be Tina.

They parted and she hesitated a little when she gazed into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Luckily for her, Brittany smiled and took a step towards her with arms open and they embraced. The simple hug brought back so many memories and feeling that were now swirling inside the brunette's chest. Sadness, hurt, regret, but at the same time comfort and a little spark of happiness.

"Hi," Brittany said softly, pulling back from the embrace.

"Hi," the brunette replied, trying to keep her emotions in check. She forced a smile to appear on her face. "You look good." And she really did. The blonde looked as beautiful as ever.

"You look great too, Santana," Brittany smiled warmly and then added to relieve the tension a little, "So, who is that in the car?"

"Oh, she's my daughter. I'll go get her."

"Satan has offspring, this oughta be good," Santana heard Mercedes in the background as walked from the porch to her car. Elle was giving her a terrible headache since she was told she had to come with her to Lima. She opened the passenger door and looked at her daughter, who was listening to her iPod and avoiding her mother's gaze.

"Elle?" Santana called her daughter and sighed when the teen didn't acknowledge her. "Elle?" She tried again a little louder, only to receive the same response.

"Elle!"

"What?" The younger brunette finally looked at her mother with challenging eyes.

"Can you please go up there and greet people?" Santana asked calmly, but she was starting to boil on the inside.

"No, I don't think so. I don't care about the granny reunion, in case you didn't notice."

"Yeah, I've noticed, but in case _you_ didn't notice you're stuck here so try and be nice, if not to me at least be nice to them."

"That's the thing; I don't even want to be here!" Elle said rising her voice.

"But you are, and I'm sorry to tell you that you're not going anywhere for the next couple of weeks. Like it or not, I'm still your mother, therefore you'll do as I say, so get your ass out of that seat, go over there, and say hello to everyone!" Santana said in a harsh whisper.

"Fine! God, how annoying…"

"Too bad, I don't care as long as you're not rude to the others." Santana was seeing red. Of course she cared, her only daughter hated her. It hurt, bad.

They didn't have the best of relationships. When Santana had moved to New York, heartbroken, she was lost and hadn't a clue about what to do with her life. She was a mess, and after a while, she dropped out of college, which meant she needed to get a job if she didn't want to sleep on the streets. Shortly after, she found a job working as bartender where she had met her husband. Well, now ex-husband. They started dating, but Santana never loved him. Her heart was always with someone else, far away from her. But it didn't matter, her father was happy that she had found a good man, and that's all that mattered at the time.

One day she saw a horde of military jeeps and for some crazy reason she set her mind in joining the army. So she did. John, her still boyfriend at the time, wasn't pleased with her decision at all, but she didn't care. It meant more time away from him and a better chance to get killed. She was living a miserable life that she didn't think was worth living anymore.

Then, in one of her trips home, she felt obligated to perform her girlfriend duties and ended up pregnant. Her father, in order to avoid the scandal in his perfect, Christian family, had made her marry John as fast as possible. She didn't really have a choice, and she knew John didn't want to marry either, but Mr. Lopez could persuade anyone with his powerful and frightening presence.

When Elle was born, she was the most beautiful thing Santana had ever seen and her heart was filled with love and happiness for the little one lying in her arms for the first time in a long time. When her maternity license was over, she had no choice but to rejoin the army. Due to her great effort and performance as a soldier, her superiors always assigned her to several international missions that kept her away from home, having to leave Elle alone with John. She didn't came home often, so she missed her daughter grow and a chance to have a proper relation of mother and daughter. She didn't know her daughter at all; she'd missed out on all the important steps in Elle's life. There was nothing in her life that she regretted more. But now, 17 years later, her daughter didn't even see her has her mother; she was just the woman who gave birth to her.

Her marriage was always a sham, so when John had told her that she had found someone else and wanted a divorce, Santana happily sign the papers. Her only sadness was seeing her daughter choose John over her. She was already expecting that, but it didn't mean that it hurt any less.

A couple years ago, due to an injury on her right shoulder when she was leading her team through a mission in Lebanon, Colonel Santana Lopez was officially discharged from her military service. She'd been so mad at the time. Not only had she been shot, the bullet causing her bone to scatter into several pieces, having to have an emergency surgery to remove the bullet and restore the top of her humerus and part of her shoulder blade, but her superiors had hinted pretty hard that, with her kind of injury, her arm would take a while to heal, and at her age, the best she'd do was retire early from disability. She was not that old. Santana was only 40 and had just landed the rank of Colonel. It was like nothing good would persist in her life, no matter how hard she worked.

And that's how she ended living alone in an empty apartment, afforded by her large paychecks and not so small disability pension, even though her shoulder had healed nicely and she felt in perfect shape to return to the army.

So, when John had called and announced that she had to take Elle in for a couple of weeks because he was going abroad to celebrate his fifth wedding anniversary, she knew her daughter would not be pleased. At all. Santana decided to come to Quinn's because she figured her daughter would have a better time if she had other people around her instead of seeing her mother's face all the time. And who knows? Maybe they 'd get the chance to know each other a bit.

Santana looked up and saw Elle say hi and give a quick wave at everybody before leaning against one pillar of the porch with her arms crossed. She sighed and followed the moping teenager, figuring it was the best she was going to get from her daughter.

"So, now that we're all here, let me give you the tour of your house for this lovely reunion," Quinn told everyone with a beaming smile on her face, picking Abby up.

"Actually, can I go lay down the kids for a nap? They're getting kind of grumpy," Tina asked, looking at her twins that were starting to fight with each other.

"Yeah sure, we can start with the rooms and then and we go from there."

They entered the house and just the hall was the most beautiful thing ever. The walls were white and adorned with tasteful pieces of art. A weird, tangled kind of lamp hanged from the ceiling, an expensive looking carpet laid beneath their feet, and in front of them, was imposing polished staircase that led to the superior floors. They got up the first set of stairs and Quinn showed them various guest rooms, a bathroom, some of her younger kids' room and Quinn's own room. They were told that the adults were to stay here on the first floor along with the younger kids.

Tina chose a room and laid Carson and Connor on the bed, but they wouldn't stop fidgeting.

"Go ahead guys, it's going to take a while," Tina's said as her head appeared at the door.

"Okay, I'm also going to lay down Abby real quick and then we can continue," Quinn said while looking at a now sleeping Abby in her arms.

When Quinn returned, she led them all to another set of stairs to the second floor. There were just as many rooms as the floor below. This was where Quinn's older kids slept and where she'd plan for all the teenagers to stay. Brittany thought that is was crazy that Quinn's house had, in fact, rooms for everyone. They then went down to the ground floor and Brittany was amazed once more. It had a huge and completely beautiful living room with a flat screen on the wall, comfy looking couches, a fireplace and shelves full of books, CD's and DVD's that occupied the entire wall on the right side of the room. The walls were all colored white, adorned with modern paintings and other pieces of art, big windows on the left side, which went from the ground to the ceiling and had an amazing view of the backyard.

They passed on to the next room and it was all kids' paradise. It was a playroom that was sort of divided in two. One side had every imaginable game and toys, and had a coloring table with several sets of crayons, markers and colored pencils. The other side had more grown up stuff. It had a pool table, a TV surrounded with beanbags and armchairs, along with a shelf filled with lots of videogames and more DVD's, and finally, a karaoke machine. The walls were covered with the cutest drawings and collages from the five Fabray-Roberts kids, mixed with a candid photo of them here and there.

Brittany let out a chuckle at all the kids' enthusiastic faces. Even Aaron in her arms was looking with wide eyes at all the colors in the bright room.

"Mom, can we play?" Eleanor asked, tugging at her mom's sleeve.

"I don't know, you have to ask Quinn," Rachel laughed at her daughters face.

"Quinn, can we play, please?"

Quinn smile at the adorable little girl. "Sure, you can stay and play if you want."

"Awesome!"

Eleanor, Sebastian and Tori stayed back at the playroom while the others continued their tour.

Next stop, the kitchen. Like the rest of the house, it was huge and classy, with a huge dining table, surrounded by expensive looking chairs, and above their heads, hanged a huge, modern lamp. Afterwards, was the backyard. When they stepped outside, everybody was exhaling excitement. In front of their eyes were a massive heated pool with an adjacent jacuzzi, circled by lawn chairs that stood in a massive turf. There was also a barbecue, a picnic table and a playground completed with a little three house, swings, a slide, monkey bars and a sand box.

Brittany looked sideways at Santana, and saw her look at her daughter, who was a little behind the group, but had a happier expression on her face. Well, with a place like this who wouldn't? They went back inside and were headed to the kitchen when Brittany heard her younger daughter speak.

"What's down there?" Lily asked with a curious voice, making Brittany look at the stairs that she was pointing at.

"Oh, I almost forgot! That's my lab and where I work. Do you want to see it?" Quinn asked Lily, who nodded her head furiously. Brittany rolled her eyes. Of course she wanted to see it; Lily was the nosiest kid she had ever met.

They heard a loud noise come from the playroom upstairs and Mercedes sighed.

"You guys go ahead, I'll go check on them and then I'll make us something to eat," Mercedes said before going back upstairs.

"Let's go then, but please, try to be careful everyone. There are a lot of us and it's not that big of a room."

They all went into Quinn's lab and Brittany thought it was something out of a movie. Many test-tubes with different colored substances were resting on the tables. The walls had shelves with samples and cabinets that were filled with more flasks that she could count, a freezer and an oven, scales, a high tech computer, and numerous other things that Brittany had no idea what they were or what they did. Quinn wasn't kidding when she said that she worked for the government. Everything looked pretty official and expensive. Brittany wondered what kind of research the other blonde was doing, what kind of things they would work on. Cures for diseases? Maybe. Quinn said she worked with DNA, maybe she…

Brittany was brought back from her thoughts when she heard a loud crash. She looked down and was terrified when she didn't see Lily. If it's trouble, Lily's in it. She looked around and saw her younger daughter looking incredibly guilty before a white fog start to fill the room. It smelt weird and was so thick that obscured their view. Seconds later, the fog dissipated leaving them with a light coating of humidity on their skin that quickly dried off, leaving their skin a little sticky.

"Lily!" Brittany turned to her daughter. "How many times do I have to tell you to not touch anything?"

"I'm sorry!" Lily said looking at her mom with tears pooling in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mommy. I didn't mean to! I was walking backwards and looking up to the shelves, and I knocked the table and the tubes smashed, and…"

"It's okay, sweetie," Quinn said to Lily while observing the damage. "But we have to go and take a shower very quickly, just to be on the safe side. It's starting to itch."

Everyone nodded and went up the stairs to the available showers while Quinn stayed back and cleaned the mess. There weren't enough bathrooms for everyone, so Brittany handed Aaron to Hailey and waited with the adults downstairs.

They went to the kitchen, and found Mercedes and Tina making sandwiches for everyone.

"What happened? You all look gross and sticky," Mercedes stated bluntly.

"You left out itchy as hell," Santana said while scratching her arm. "I don't really know what happened, but Brittany's kid busted some shi… stuff at Quinn's lab…"

Brittany zoned out of the conversation. She pulled one of the chairs and looked around the table. Elle was sitting across from her, scratching her neck with one hand and devouring a sandwich Mercedes had placed in front of her with the other. She resembled Santana so much. The same long, dark hair, same tanned skin, same prominent cheek bones... Even the sassy side seemed to be there too. Only the eyes were lighter.

Next to her were Quinn's twins. Matt was inhaling his sandwich, and Mallory was looking at him with a grossed out expression while taking small bites of hers. Johanna was sitting next to them, eating quietly. She looked up at Brittany and their eyes met. The older blonde smiled at her, but the girl just looked back down to her sandwich. Well, she certainly was different from her siblings that were now bickering loudly with each other, earning the occasional glance of annoyance from Elle.

"Here," Brittany looked up and saw Santana extending her arm, offering her a sandwich.

"Thanks," Brittany smiled at the brunette who smiled back at her, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. They stared at each other until Lily's loud voice made her turn her head.

"Mommy, Mommy! You can go now, the bathtub is huge!"

Brittany let out a chuckle at her daughter's enthusiasm.

"Yeah, it's fun to play in a big bathtub when it's your sister that cleans the mess afterwards," said an annoyed Hailey, entering the kitchen with Aaron in her arms.

"You can go now mom, I'll watch them."

"That was quick, thanks honey." Brittany got up and planted a kiss on her daughter's cheek before leaving the room.

Hailey pulled a chair and had just sat down with Aaron on her lap, when the rest of the kids entered the kitchen. Lily was already running to Zoey and they sat next to each other, chatting about god knows what and eating their sandwiches. Next to them, Zack and Jaden were doing the same, talking about some video game that, apparently, was the most awesome thing ever.

"Here, you must be hungry," the blonde teenage looked up and saw Mallory extending her a sandwich.

"Thanks," Hailey said with a shy smile.

"Well, I'd like to stay and chat but this itch is killing me. We'll have plenty of time for that later anyways. See you," Mallory flashed a bright smile before going upstairs.

One of her mom's friends, Santana, she thought, went to shower as well, followed by the other twin, Matt, then Johanna and Elle.

As Hailey finished her sandwich, her mom came back from the showers.

"Honey, it's time to feed Aaron, could you please go upstairs to my bag and get the bottle while I heat up the water?" The older blonde asked her.

"Sure."

Hailey went up the stairs absentmindedly until she felt something collide with her, making her lose her balance and land on the floor.

"I'm so sorry," Mallory said, extending her hand for Hailey to grab.

"No problem, I was distracted," Hailey looked up and felt her cheeks burn up immediately. Mallory was standing before her with only a towel covering her lean body, and her light brown hair dripping wet.

"It's okay. I forgot to bring my clothes," Mallory explained and chuckled at herself. "Hey, meet us at the playroom later. We're going to hang out, feel free to join us," she added when Hailey didn't respond and just stood there all flushed.

"Y- Yeah, sure. That'll be great," Hailey finally let out, showing a hesitant smile.

"Great, I'll see you then."

Mallory went to her room, leaving Hailey staring at the perfect, slightly muscular lines of her back._ God_, _she has a sexy back._ What? Hailey snapped out of her thoughts and practically ran to get the bottle for her brother. When she got back at the kitchen, her mom was already waiting.

"Took you long enough."

"Sorry, got distracted," the younger blonde mumbled.

"Distracted, eh? And what got you so distracted that you took ten minutes to get the bottle?" Brittany teased her daughter.

"Er, nothing," Hailey blushed. "I'm going to the playroom, we're going to hang out." With that she sped out of the kitchen to escape more teasing from her mom that she knew was coming if she didn't got out of there in time.

When she entered the playroom Matt was already there, playing some video game, Johanna was sitting in a beanbag reading a book, and Elle was sitting in one of the armchairs, typing away on her phone. Matt looked back when he heard someone at the door.

"Finally! Do you want to play? I could use some sort of competition," he smiled warmly at her and she found herself smiling back.

"Sure, I'm always ready to kick ass."

Hailey sat next to him and he handled her one controller.

"Is Mario Kart okay?"

"More than okay, get ready to be devastated," she smiled at him.

Ten minutes later, Matt was losing monumentally and Hailey was chucking at his moping expression.

"What's got you pouting, lil' bro?"

They all turned around at the voice. Mallory was entering the room with some of the younger ones on her tail. Zoey, Lily, Eleanor, and Tori went straight to the coloring table, while Mallory dropped in one beanbag.

"Well, he's getting his assed kicked, that's why he's pouting," Hailey said and saw Johanna smile a little behind her book.

"Seems that you found another challenging opponent," Mallory said to her brother.

"Another? Who is the other? You? Because if it is, I'm sorry to tell you that you're sadly mistaken."

"Oh, shut up. I can beat you with my eyes closed."

"As if…"

"Hey, I've got to go to the bathroom. Play for me," Hailey said, passing the controller to Mallory.

When she came back, the twins were playing out of their seats and wriggling their bodies around. It was highly amusing seeing them so competitive, so Hailey sat in the corner next to Johanna and watched them for a while. They were so alike. Mallory had long light brown hair and beautiful green eyes. She must be the sporty one out of the two, because Hailey could see the toned arm muscles clenching and unclenching as the girl pressed the buttons. Matt seemed more of a free spirit. He had the same green eyes and light brown hair, which was styled in dreadlocks that reached his middle back and had a nose ring. Both had beautiful smiles and a kind expression on their faces. She looked at the other Quinn's kids in the room. While Zoey was totally a mini Mallory, Johanna was a little different. She had the same green eyes, but her hair was blonde instead of light brown, and seemed more shy and reserved than the rest of her siblings. One thing was for sure, the Fabray-Roberts' were damn good looking kids.

Brittany popped her head in the playroom and smiled at the sight of all the kids getting along. Well, almost. Elle was sitting alone typing on her phone, looking bored out of her mind.

"Kids, dinner's ready," she announced to the room.

"Thank god, I'm starving," a famished Matt said, putting down the controller.

"I'd be surprised if you weren't," Mallory rolled her eyes at her brother.

"I'm a man, I gotta eat." With that he passed Brittany and practically ran to the kitchen.

Dinner was full of animated conversation, laughter and amazing food. Brittany learnt a lot about her former fellow Glee clubbers. She discovered that Mercedes had married a guy she'd met in New York. She was a chef, and was responsible for the mouthwatering food they were eating. Tina was a doctor, and lived with Mike Chang and their three kids in Chicago. Rachel she did know about. She had read many articles about the great Broadway star, Rachel Barbra Berry, and was very happy that her friend had achieved all her dreams. Santana didn't talk much. She just said that she did military service, and was divorced. Brittany never imagined Santana to be in the army. And did the brunette say that she 'did military service'? Did that meant she didn't anymore? She knew that the brunette had dreamed of becoming a performer, and anyone that knew Santana a little bit could tell that she always fought for the things she wanted. So Brittany didn't understand what made her change her mind, but she wasn't going to ask, either. There was still a weird tension lingering between them and she felt like it wasn't a think that Santana wished to discuss further.

After dinner, much to the kids' insistence, everybody gathered around the living room for a movie session. Quickly the little kids were all falling asleep in various places and positions on the couch, so they decided to call it a night, because tomorrow they were planning on having a field day.

**A/N: Hope it didn't suck that much :) Thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's another chapter :) Oh! Also if you want to check out how the kids look like (at least in my head), you can go to my tumblr (brittanysexpierce) and just click on the page "My Stuff".**

* * *

The next day, they all slept in. Well, at least those who didn't have little kids to wake them up at the crack of dawn like Brittany. She'd wake up to change Aaron's diaper, and couldn't go back to sleep, so she just took her baby boy and went to the kitchen. She sat Aaron on the portable high chair she'd brought from home, and opened the fridge to get the ingredients to make milk for Aaron and pancakes for everyone.

Santana was walking down the stairs when a wonderful smell filled her nostrils. She thought she'd be the only one awake since it was still early and everybody was tired from yesterday's events. When she entered the kitchen, she had to smile. Brittany was dancing adorably to her son, who was also bouncing in his seat, while adding another finished pancake to the pile.

"Good morning," Santana greeted shyly, startling Brittany, who turned around so quickly that almost dropped the whole pile of food.

"Santana! God, you scared me," Brittany laughed at her silliness while clutching a hand to her chest.

"Sorry, didn't mean to."

"It's okay. You know how spacey I get when I dance," Brittany said while picking up the bottle for Aaron, who was now fussing impatiently.

"Yeah…" Santana whispered, surfing the memories of her dancing alone with the blonde in her room, when all that mattered was them.

"Santana?"

She was so immersed in those memories that she didn't hear Brittany call her name.

"Santana?" The blonde tried again, a little louder.

"Uh, what?" She finally turned to Brittany.

"I was asking if you could feed Aaron. The pancakes are going to burn and he's about to throw a tantrum," the blonde said with pleading eyes, extending the baby bottle towards her.

"Sure…" The brunette grabbed the bottle, a little hesitant. She looked at the now crying boy and swallowed hard. It's been a really long time since she last held a baby.

"Go ahead, he won't bite. He doesn't have enough teeth yet," Brittany laughed.

The brunette put the bottle down and hooked her hands under the baby's arms, lifting him up. She sat down, snuggled the baby in her arms and started to feed him. He stopped crying almost instantly, and Santana looked down at him. The kid was simply adorable. He was watching every move of her face with his big blue eyes and gripping her shirt powerfully, while sucking leisurely at the end of the bottle.

Santana was officially hooked. She stared at him and ran a lazy finger from his eyebrow to his chubby cheek. He was beautiful, and those eyes... _Her_ eyes. So bright and so blue.

"Oh wow, he likes you."

Santana broke her gaze from the baby and saw Brittany leaning against the counter, observing them with a loving expression.

"He doesn't like to be held by strangers," the blonde continued.

"Guess I'm lucky then," Santana replied, unsure how to respond. "He's so cute," she added with a smile.

"Yeah, I think so too, but I might be kind of biased," Brittany laughed.

"Good morning!" Quinn's bright voice sounded from the doorway.

"Oh, would you look at this! Santana Lopez being all sweet and caring while feeding a baby!" Mercedes said loudly, entering the kitchen after Quinn. "Never in my entire life had I thought I'd see something like this!"

"God, tone it down. It's too early for this kind of enthusiasm," Santana said.

"Whatever," Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Britt, are these for us?"

"Sure, help yourselves," the blonde answered with her warm smile.

"So, I was thinking we could spend the day by the pool, maybe have some burgers for lunch," Quinn suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good," Brittany replied and the other two agreed as well, digging into their food.

Two hours later, they were all outside, some lying on the chairs, others on their towels on the grass, and most of them were splashing around in the pool. The air was filled with laughter, screaming and happiness, and Brittany was loving every minute of it. She was playing with Aaron on the grass, tickling his feet, making weird faces and noises that made the little boy burst with the cutest giggles.

Hailey sat in one of the lawn chairs, watching her mother and her brother. It was impossible to look and don't smile widely at the adorableness of it all. Her mom was the best ever. She always played with them, went with them to the park, held them and gave them ice cream when they cried, gave them lots of kisses and hugs, and listened to their problems and opinions without judging them.

"You really love them, don't you?" Hailey heard Mallory's voice from the chair next to hers.

"Yeah, I know it's lame, but my mom's my best friend," Hailey said still looking at the pair on the grass.

"I don't think it's lame at all. I wish I had that kind of relationship with my mom," Mallory sighed, looking at her mom holding little Abby on the pool. "I mean, I love my mom and I know she loves me more than anything, but we're never good at sharing and talking about our feelings. None of us Fabray-Roberts are."

"I'm not a very open person, either. Guess I got it from my dad. I can't say the same about Lily, though. The kid has _always_ something so say. She's like my mom, all bubbly and smiles… and rainbows," the young blonde chuckled.

"I only know them for about a day, but I can tell they're awesome people. Just like you," Mallory smiled at the other girl.

Hailey looked at her feet, smiling shyly at her feet and blushing slightly.

_So, so cute_. Mallory thought to herself but decided to change subject, "So where do you live?"

"Los Angeles."

"Los Angeles?" The brunette's eyes widened with excitement. "That must be so awesome!"

"I guess… But sometimes it's just too crowded. There's thousands of tourist wandering around the streets. I like quieter places, like this."

"If you lived here, you wouldn't think like that. This is the lamest town on earth. Still full of judgmental people and the only things to do around here are going to the mall or the bowling alley and let me tell you, there's only an amount of bowling one can do," Mallory sighed.

"I bet it's not that bad," Hailey flashed a smile at the other girl.

"You wouldn't know, would you?" Mallory smiled back.

"Fine, you win."

"So, tell me. How old are you, 17, 18?" The light brunette asked, eyeing the tall girl.

"Nope, only sixteen."

"Sixteen? Wow, could have fooled me!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot. Must be the high or something," Hailey giggled. "How about you?"

"Me? I'm seventeen and a soon to be high school senior. Can't wait, actually. I wanna make volleyball captain so bad next year," Mallory said with sparkly eyes.

"You play volleyball?" The blonde asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I love it."

"That's so great! I really like it too, but with cheerleading and dancing I don't have the time."

"You dance? And are you any good?" Mallory teased.

"I'm okay, I guess," Hailey replied with a shrug of shoulders.

"I'm sure you're great," Mallory said, punching the blonde's shoulder lightly. "You have to show me sometime."

"Maybe, I won't make any promises, though," the blonde girl smiled.

Brittany looked around and smiled at her daughter getting along with Mallory. She needed friends and socializing. She stopped hanging out with her friends and closed herself in her room for hours, after her dad passed away. Brittany hated seeing her once talkative and outgoing child become a closed off teenager. She hoped a change of environment and meeting some new faces would make her girl better.

Brittany looked down when she felt her finger being warped by something cold. She gasped when she saw a strand of grass curling around her finger, as if alive. The blonde pulled her hand back instantly to her chest, watching the strand retrieve back at the same high as others. Brittany looked around her, but no one seemed to notice what just happened. She tentatively reached her hand back to stroke the grass and now several strands rolled around her fingers, caressing her skin gently. _What the hell is going on? Am I going insane?_ Brittany thought to herself while closing her eyes and shaking her head slightly.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Lily's voice sounded somewhere in the back of her brain.

"Mommy?" Lily asked, poking her mom in the arm. "Why're you looking weird at the grass?"

"Uh? Oh… Nothing. You were saying?" Brittany turned to her daughter, still pretty confused.

"I said I was getting kind of hungry."

Brittany looked at her wrist watch and saw that was, in fact, lunch time.

"Okay, baby. Go play a little more while mommy makes something to eat."

Her daughter turned to the pool again and Brittany got up, handed Aaron to Hailey and made her way to the other adults who were already preparing the barbecue and meat. She must have been really out of it with the entire grass thing. Every adult was doing something and Brittany felt bad for not helping. She decided to make herself useful and helped Mercedes with the burgers and hot dogs, turning them around on the grill, while Mercedes tempered them with her special sauce.

* * *

Lunch had been delicious and now everyone was lying outside, reveling in the warm sun. Aaron was sleeping under a big sun hat, sprawled on Brittany's stomach, while Lily was snuggled at her mom's side, also taking a nap. They stayed like this for a long time until Quinn broke the silence.

"Girls, I hate to spoil the laziness, but we need to go grocery shopping. I'd go alone, but I don't think I can carry all the things we need. There are a lot of us and we need to restock. Any volunteer?"

"Sure, I'll go with you," Brittany promptly offered.

"Cool, give me five minutes to grab my purse and we'll go."

"Cedes, will you watch them?" Brittany asked Mercedes who was reading a magazine.

"Of course, don't worry, girl. Give him here," Mercedes extended her arms and Brittany gave her a still sleeping Aaron.

"Thanks."

The blonde turned around and her eyes fell on Elle, sitting alone with a bored expression. Instead of going inside, Brittany walked up to her and kneeled in front of her chair.

"Hey," she greeted softly.

"Hi," the teenage said back.

"Do you want to come with us? Just Quinn and I. We're going to the grocery store. Thought you might want to get out of here for a while."

"Hmm… Sure, why not. Better than staying here, anyway," Elle gave her a tiny but sincere smile.

"Awesome, I'm going upstairs and get my purse. Wait by the front door; we'll be there in a minute," Brittany said with a wide smile before turning up the stairs.

Hailey was on her way to the bathroom when she saw her mom running down the stairs with her bag. "Mom? Where're you going?"

"Quinn and I are going to the grocery store. Oh, Elle's coming too."

"Can I go, too?" The younger blonde asked in a hopeful tone.

"Sure, we're leaving, so hurry up."

Twenty minutes later, Elle and the three blondes were exiting the car and walking towards the grocery store entrance.

"Okay, everybody grab a cart. So, Britt you get the milk and make sure to bring soy milk too, for Rachel. Elle you get pasta, rice and canned food, Hailey you get sodas, juice and water. I'm going to get meat and fish and see if I can get some tofu stuff for Rachel, too. We'll meet in about ten minutes at the vegetable alley. Go!" Quinn said quickly and they all went separate ways.

Elle was pushing her cart around, searching the store for the rice aisle. She looked to her right and there it was, completely empty, besides an old lady gazing up the shelves. She turned her cart and started scanning the shelves herself next to the old lady.

"_Where is the precooked rice?"_ The old lady asked.

"Have you seen down here?" Elle helped, searching the lower shelves.

"I'm sorry?" The lady turned to her with a confused expression.

"The precooked rice. I think it's somewhere down here."

"_How did she know I was looking for precooked rice?"_ The lady said.

"You asked for the rice just a minute ago," Elle looked at her uncertainly. "Didn't you?"

"_Is she okay? She doesn't seem okay," _Elle listened to the woman speak, but her lips didn't move.

"Are you okay sweetie?" This time her lips did move.

"Uh… I-I think so," the teenage stuttered and turned to leave. "I'm sorry to bother you," she called after her shoulder.

"_What in the world…"_ She heard the old lady's voice in her head. It had to be in her head, no one else was around. She pushed her cart absentmindedly through the store, trying to understating what the hell was happening to her brain. It was only getting worse.

"_I need shampoo…"_

"_Let's see, carrots, check. Lettuce, check. Salt, check. Sausages, check…"_

"…_maybe she wants to stay the night, I better get some condoms, you never know."_

"_She said something about washing…"_

She was panicking, no one's lips were moving. All of them were walking the aisles, minding their own business and pretty much mute. What the fuck was happening?

"_Uh, chocolate bars!"_

She wiped her head so fast at the sound of a familiar voice that she almost got a stiff neck. Brittany was several feet away eyeing some candy bars. The blonde woman looked up as sensing someone's eyes on her and her eyes met Elle's.

"_Oh, there's Elle!" _Elle heard, but once again, didn't see any lip movement. The blonde waved animatedly at her and she gave her a weak wave and smile back.

"_Why doesn't she have anything in her cart yet? It's almost time to meet at the vegetables."_ The teen saw Brittany's face frown and she was certainly going crazy. It was the only possible explanation. Elle decided to get out of there as fast as possible, before the blonde came asking questions. She still had to get the damn rice and she just wanted to get the hell out of this place, so she tried to block out the voices and hurry up. Just as she was getting back to the rice aisle, she heard someone in her head. Someone whose unknown voice sent chills down her spine. It had to be in her head, because there's no one around her and the voice sounded crystal clear.

"_Well, well, well… What do we have here? Teen, tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, tanned skin, a delicious pair of breasts and an equally mouthwatering round little ass. Simply perfect."_

Elle froze when she heard the man's deep voice doing a perfect description of Hailey. She let go of the cart and ran, searching for Hailey.

Hailey was just finishing loading her cart, which was almost full with all the beverages, when she saw a man with a raunchy look leaning against the end of the aisle and eyeing her up and down. She gulped and tried to be quick when she saw him coming her way. She grabbed some random bottles of juice from the shelves and threw them in the cart.

"Hello, beautiful," a deep voice filled her ears and sent chills down her entire body. Her breathing was starting to become erratic and all her cells were filling with fear.

"A gorgeous young lady like you shouldn't be here all by herself," the middle aged man spoke in a low voice, his alcohol breath hitting her face. When she didn't respond, he just smirked and tried again, "Are you having a party? That's a lot of drinks you got there," he said, eyeing the full cart.

"N-No. I-I gotta go," she turned to leave, but he stopped her by grabbing her arm, which made her turn around.

"Don't," he continued with his faux gentle voice.

"Could you let go of my arm, please?" She asked politely as her body started to shake. After one more creepy smile, he did let go.

"Come on, we could have our own party. Just the two of us," he said in what he thought was a sultry voice. "Would you like that?"

Hailey couldn't move from her spot, her body had been completely taken over by fear. She shut her eyes tightly and tried to control her breathing. Maybe she was stuck in a very vivid nightmare. She knew she wasn't. The stench of alcohol emanating from the man filled her nostrils, telling her that it was all terrifyingly real. She just wished she was somewhere else. It didn't matter where, just… somewhere that wasn't right here and right now. She opened her eyes when she felt a light, pleasant breeze caress her face. She wasn't at the grocery story anymore. She was in a lake house, and not any lake house. The lake house her family went every year. It was a place that conveyed calm, happiness and was problem free. She could always just… be.

Hailey took a hesitant step forward and found herself barefoot on the grass. She walked forward and let her feet into the cool water. It felt so real. Maybe this was reality. Maybe the whole episode at the grocery store was the real nightmare. Maybe she just fell asleep by the lake, dreamt the entire thing and was now awake. But, if she was awake, why was she alone? Shouldn't Lily be nagging her to go swim with her? Shouldn't Aaron be cooing and playing with his little toys, while Brittany watched them all with a radiant smile on her face? And where was their car? They certainly didn't walk here. Perhaps they all went somewhere and left her here without saying anything, but that was impossible. Her mom always told her whenever she went out and where she was going. The thing was, she couldn't remember a thing from this trip to the lake.

"Hey! Get your filthy hands away from her!" A loud and angry voice made Hailey turn around and she was, once again, facing the middle aged man, who was now looking behind her shoulder. She turned around and saw Elle running up to her.

"Don't need to be rude, I'm sure we could work something out with the three of us," the man smirked disgustingly.

"Listen here you fucking pervert, you'll turn around and leave us the fuck alone," Elle said in a low, threatening voice.

"And if I don't? What're you going to do, princess?" the man said, with an amused smile on his face.

"I'm going to get my mom. She works in the army and could land your disgusting ass in jail in no time, which is where you should be right now. Also, if you don't get the fuck out of here this instant, I'll rip your cock off and kick you so hard on the balls you'd wish I'd ripped them off too."

"Fine, you're not worth the trouble, you little bitches," The man said with a slightly frightened expression and left them alone in the corridor.

"Fucking perv," Elle mumbled under her breath. "Are you okay?" She asked turning to the blonde, who was still staring blankly forward, with a confused expression.

"I-I think so," Hailey replied with a shaky voice and a frown on her face. "What just happened…?"

"Well, the perv wanted to have his way with you and you just stood there, petrified and staring into space. I mean, what the hell girl, run, punch, do something. Don't just stand there waiting for it," Elle said, rolling her eyes.

"I just… How did you find me?" Hailey asked, turning her head to the other girl in time to see her lowering her gaze to the floor.

_Shit. I can't tell her I'm listening to voices, or thoughts or whatever these are, in my head. She'll think I'm crazy. And maybe I am._ Elle thought, trying to come up with an excuse.

"I was, hmm… passing by and saw him all over you and thought you might use some help," the dark haired girl said softly.

"Thanks, Elle," Hailey said with a small smile.

"There you are, girls! We've been waiting for ten minutes," Quinn's exasperate voice came from the end of the aisle.

"Sorry, Quinn," Hailey said, lowering her head.

"Yeah, some kind of perv was harassing Hailey, but we took care of it," Elle said with a proud smirk.

"Well, _we_ didn't do anything. Elle was the one who scared him away," Hailey smiled to the other teen.

"_What?_ Are you serious?" Brittany concerned voice came from behind Quinn. "Are you girls okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. It's just some drunken creep," Elle answered. "We still need to get the rice, tough."

"Okay, let's grab it and get out of here," Quinn said quickly.

Elle grabbed her former discarded cart and they all went for pasta, rice and canned food. There were still some voices ringing inside her head but were weaker, so she tried to shut them out. Brittany and Quinn split the ginormous bill and they all went back to Quinn's car. The trip back to the house was kind of quiet, only Brittany was chatting away animatedly. Elle smiled to herself at the woman's enthusiasm. It was contagious. She decided she liked Brittany, she seemed cool, and contrary to her own mother, she seemed to be an awesome mom.

* * *

Later, when the four of them were putting the groceries in the cabinets, Hailey approached Elle.

"Hi," The blonde smiled.

"Hi back," Elle said with a smile of her own.

"I just wanted to thank you again. I just panicked or something, I don't really know what the hell happened."

"It's okay. I'm glad I got there on time."

"I don't usually get like this, but it's like I panicked and then I wasn't even there," Hailey said, recalling the incident. "I don't know, I guess it was one of those weird brain defense mechanisms or something and my mind just sent me away from there."

"Don't worry, it happens," Elle shrugged it off.

"Yeah… Anyway, I just wanted to thank you again. I really appreciate it," the blonde flashed her perfect warm smile.

"No problem," Elle couldn't help but smile back.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello again! I just want so say I'm sorry about the lack of Brittana interaction lately, but I promise it gets better :) Also, I'll try to update this fic every Tuesday and Friday, if you're still interested.**

* * *

Dinner that night was just like the night before. They talked about everything and anything. Laughter filled the room and the little ones were practically best friends after the long day at the pool.

After dinner, while the adults cleaned the kitchen, the younger ones headed to the playroom, where they parted to their favorite activities. Abby, Carson and Connor were playing with the dolls. The little girls, Lily, Zoey, Eleanor and Tori were having a coloring competition, while Sebastian, Zach and Jaden were trying to build a giant card castle with three decks of cards. Johanna was in her usual corner, reading her book, and the older ones were playing Mario Kart. Hailey was leading, with Mallory closely behind, Elle was third and Matt was last and fuming. Everybody was having so much fun that just when their moms came into the room to get the little ones to sleep, they noticed that it was already late.

"Alright, we're going to bed. Please, keep it down and don't stay up too late," Quinn said and then rolled her eyes to the teens that barely paid her any attention.

An hour later, Johanna announced she was going to bed and the remaining teens were getting bored of video games.

"I'm bored as hell, any suggestions?" Matt said, dropping his controller.

"Hum… Why don't we play something to know each other a little better?" Mallory asked with a wicked smile.

"What'd you have in mind?" Hailey asked a little hesitant.

"Never Have I Ever?"

"We don't have anything to drink," Matt pointed out, leaning back and running a hand through his dreads.

"That's where you're wrong, little brother," Mallory went to one of the shelves and sneaked out a bottle with some orange liquid inside and some paper cups from behind a couple of books.

"Where did you get that?" Matt dropped his jaw. "And stop calling me little brother, we're the same age."

"But you are my little brother, Matty. I'm two minutes and 42 seconds older, so I earned the right to call you little bro. You were too slow. I'm clearly superior, even in the womb," Mallory said with fake smugness. "And to answer your question, I fetched some vodka from dad's liquor cabinet and added orange juice. No need to thank me, people."

Elle chuckled and rolled her eyes as the light brunette sat down on the floor and went to fill the small cups, waiting for everyone to do the same.

"Okay, I'll start with an easy one," Mallory said, handing over the now filled cups. "Never have I ever fooled around in a sibling's room."

Nobody drank to that and Mallory let out a sigh of relieve.

"Thank God, I just wanted to check if you never took, for whatever reason, your conquests to my room," Mallory said, eyeing her brother.

"Why would I do that? That's kinda sick," Matt rolled his eyes before continuing. "Never have I ever been drunk," Both Mallory and Elle sipped their cups.

"Never have I ever been completely naked in public," Elle said. No one drank and they turned to Hailey.

"Hum… never have I ever smoked a joint." All of them drank, except Hailey. "Seriously?"

"Yup, girl, I can't believe you never smoked a little weed. You are missing out in life," Matt said to her. "A joint every now and then it's completely harmless and helps you relax after a stressful day."

"But you're a closeted pothead," Mallory laughed. "I guess it's me again. Hmm… I can't think of anything that's not completely lame and that I've not done yet, so I think we better just throw stuff out there and if you've done it then you have to drink."

"Fine by me," Elle shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay, so… let's cut to the chase. Have you ever had sex?" Mallory asked and watched Elle and Matt drink.

"Really, bro? Who's the unfortunate one?" Mallory mocked.

"It's none of your business."

"Come on, don't be a douche. We used to tell each other everything."

"Yeah, well, after that time I told you about my dream and you ran to tell mom, I kinda stopped trusting you."

"I'm sorry, but you dreaming about kissing Natalie Fat -Ass Brown was too funny not to share. Mom was just the closest person at the moment," Mallory laughed at the memory.

"Whatever. At least I'm getting some action."

"I'll have you know that my virginity is intact by personal choice," Mallory stated matter of factly. "I have many suitors of my own, thank you very much. I just haven't found the right one yet. And apparently I'm not the only one," the brunette said, pointing to Hailey, who blushed and ducked her head. "Next question, please."

"Okay, I'll go," Elle volunteered. "Have you ever kissed someone of the same gender?"

Only Mallory drank.

"You have? Who? When?" Matt turned to his sister.

"Yes, I did. Francesca Lewis, after we won the volleyball game, just before Christmas break."

"You go, sis. Didn't know you were into the ladies," Matt said with a wiggle of eyebrows.

"Don't be a pig Matthew," her sister looked sharply at him, "And I'm into people."

"Sorry, I was just a bit surprised, that's all…" The boy raised his hands in surrender.

"Who cares, anyway? The only thing that matters is if it's good or not," Elle interrupted. "So, how was it?" She added with a smirk.

"It was good," Mallory answered with a dreamy grin plastered on her face. "It was great, actually. You know how boys scratch you with their pathetic stubbles and shove their tongues down your throat?" She asked and looked around to Hailey and Elle asking for support, but was only met with the blonde looking down at the rug and Elle nodding her head, before looking at Hailey with a smirk on her face.

"Yeah, I get what you mean. Don't you agree, Hailey?" Elle asked teasingly.

"Hum… I…" The blonde stuttered.

"Come on, Hailey, you've kissed boys, haven't you?"

"_Oh God, I can't tell them I've never been kissed. They'll think I'm some lame ass prude. Think, Hailey, think. I'm screwed..."_ Elle heard the blonde girl think.

Yeah, Elle still heard a random thought now and then, but it was quiet inside her head most of the time. However, this time, not only she heard Hailey's voice in her head, but she also felt nervous, panicking, ashamed, and amused at the same time. This was new. She had no reason to be panicking or ashamed. She just felt amused by her teasing, so who was the owner of such contradictory emotions to her own? Her body tingled with the answer. She could feel the emotions emanating from someone else. Someone that was sitting in front of her, redder than a tomato, and kept stuttering until giving up and shaking her beautiful blonde head.

"No boys, as in plural? Oh, maybe just _a _boy?" Elle kept going, teasing the blonde and smiling to herself. It was kind of mean, she knew, but she was rather amused by the blonde girl's embarrassment. That was until said blonde closed her eyes tightly and her breathing started to increase.

"Hailey?" Elle tried carefully. "I'm sorry, I was just joking."

The blonde didn't respond. She opened her eyes and fixed her gaze on the wall, in front of her. It was like she wasn't there. Her eyes lacked life, the sparkle just wasn't there. Elle had seen that expression just once before. At the grocery store, when Hailey had been paralyzed with fear. Like she was there physically, but not mentally. Like her mind had traveled to another place, trying to escape the torment of reality.

"Hailey?" Mallory tried again, only to get no response.

"Hey," Elle called, shaking the girl's shoulder gently. "Come back, Hailey."

After a moment, Hailey closed her eyes again and when she opened them again they were confused.

"Are you okay?" Mallory asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just… zoned out for a bit," Hailey said.

"_Oh my God, I must have looked like an idiot. I mean, I don't even know how I looked like, but if they ask me how I am, it means time passed and I just stood there, probably unmoving and drooling down my chin or something. Shit, what if I really drooled down my chin? How embarrassing would that be? They would tell me, for sure. Unless they'd want to spare me from further humiliation…"_ Hailey ranted in her head.

"Well, maybe it's time for us to go to bed," Elle said, interrupting the girl's thoughts and smiling a little at the ramble.

"I agree," Matt yawned and got up. "Night, girls."

"Night, Matty."

"Good night."

"Well, I think I'm going to head to bed, too," Mallory turned to the other girls. "You coming?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to get some water from the kitchen," Hailey replied.

"Hum… I need some water, too," Elle said, thinking this was the perfect opportunity to talk to her blonde friend. Friend. She thought she would not make them here, for sure. But now, only a couple of days later, she found herself actually liking these kids. They entered the kitchen an Elle sat down since Hailey had offered to get the water for her. The blonde placed the glass in front of her and sipped her own glass.

"So, do you usually zone out like you did in the playroom?" Elle asked softly and as soon as the words left her mouth, she felt nervousness irradiating from the blonde.

"Hum… Not really," Hailey said shortly.

"You also zoned out like that at the grocery store," Elle pointed out. "Where did you go?"

"What do you mean?" The blonde asked, tiling her head in confusion.

"People always go somewhere when they zone out."

"Oh. Uh… At the grocery store I went to at the lake house my family goes every year and back at the playroom I went to my own room, in Los Angeles. I don't know what's happening to my mind, it's like in that moment I travel somewhere else and block out all the rest. I mean, sometimes I zone out, everybody does at some point in their lives, it's just… this time, it feels different, it feels solid. It feels real, like I'm really there," Hailey finished with a sigh.

Elle didn't say anything. The brunette was just thinking, but her silence was filling the other girl with uncertainty.

"I know I must sound crazy…" Hailey began.

"If you are crazy, then so am I," The brunette interrupted the other girl.

"How so?"

"Well, I think I'm getting inside people's heads," Elle said slowly and laughed a little, only now realizing how ridiculous it sounded.

"Inside people's heads? Like, reading people?"

"No, like, really inside their heads. Thoughts and stuff," the brunette looked down shyly.

"You can hear thoughts?" Hailey asked skeptically.

"_Maybe she is crazier than me, after all," _Elle smiled as the thought rung in her head.

"Maybe I am."

"I didn't mean…" The blonde stopped and looked up at the other girl with wide eyes. "How…?"

"_Can you really hear me?"_

"Yes, I can," Elle laughed at Hailey's startled expression.

"I – I… and you.. How?"

"I don't know, and it's not permanent. Sometimes I can hear them, sometimes I can't."

"God, this is so weird… and awesome! Did you do it your entire life?" Hailey leaned forward eagerly.

"Hum… No. It started at the grocery store, just before I heard that creep."

"Did you tell your mom?" Elle laughed bitterly at the words.

"No. I don't know if you notice, but my mom and I don't have the best of relationships."

"Yeah, well, I think you should tell someone," the blonde decided not the press the subject, sensing it was a tense topic.

"I already did. I told you. Besides, they'll just think I'm crazy or something that fits that category."

"Well, you told me and I still think you're sane," Hailey raised an eyebrow.

"But that's different. You're different."

"And why's that?"

"Because I think you can do something, too. I think that when you space out, you go somewhere in your mind. Like it's just your body here, but your spirit, or something, is elsewhere. Like you can warp reality, create a change of scenario."

"I don't know. Maybe I just space out like I mean it," Hailey laughed.

"Maybe. Could you try it?" Elle asked quietly.

"Try what?"

"Going somewhere in your mind," the brunette said cautiously, looking straight into the other girl's eyes.

"B-but… I don't know how to do it. Hell, I don't know if I_ can _do it."

"Just… just close your eyes and imagine you're somewhere else," Elle encouraged with a smile.

Hailey gazed at Elle's eyes and then closed her own. She tried to concentrate and think she was away from Quinn's kitchen. The thing was, now that she was trying to go somewhere else, she just couldn't do it. Not to mention the fact that all this felt kind of stupid. But, remembering the determination in Elle's face, Hailey tried again, with renewed vigor. She tried to imagine herself in the lake house again, but she wasn't feeling it. Sleepy. That's what she was feeling. The thought of the extremely warm and comfy bed, upstairs in her spare room, was the appealing one right now.

"Elle, I'm sorry, but I think this isn't…" Hailey opened her eyes and found herself two stories up, looking at said bed and a teen brunette nowhere to be seen.

_What. The. Hell?_

She looked at the little clock on the bedside table and saw it was just a minute after her being in the kitchen. Confused, she walked to the door and down the stairs, towards the kitchen.

Elle was sitting there, mouth agape, trying to understand what just happened. About a minute ago she had seen the blonde disappearing in front of her eyes. Literally disappearing. One moment she was there, sitting on the chair, eyes closed, and the next one… _Puff. _And, like the whole thing wasn't bizarre enough, here she was, a minute later, walking through the kitchen door with a confused expression adorning her features.

"Hailey," Elle got up of her chair. "What the hell just happened?"

"I have no idea. I was trying to go to the place I went at the grocery store, but all I could think about was the bed upstairs and how fluffy it is. The next think I know, I'm there, looking right at it."

"You mean you just teleported upstairs?"

"Technically… yes. At least I think so, although I don't understand how the hell that's possible."

"Yeah, I don't really know what's going on either. This is all beyond crazy! What happened to the simple mind traveling?" Elle asked with a smile.

"I still don't know if I can do that," Hailey returned the smile.

"Well, you can teleport, that's mighty cool already."

"You can read minds, which I think is way cooler."

"No way. It's annoying, it makes my brain overload, not to mention that is kind of violation of privacy."

"You'll have to try and block it out," Hailey suggested.

"Yeah, I'll practice if you promise to practice your mind and body trips."

"Okay, I promise," the blonde smiled.

"God, how crazy do we sound?" Elle laughed.

"Pretty crazy… pretty crazy, indeed," Hailey chuckled back. "Come on, let's go to bed, it's really late."

* * *

Mallory woke up in the morning with a sore neck, probably from landing on the bed and remaining in the same position all night long. It had been two more days since the guests arrived, and it was nonstop fun with these people. Every night they'd play a game with everyone, and last night had been Twister time, which got her completely spent. She looked at her alarm clock and concluded that everyone was probably downstairs eating breakfast, which meant all the bathrooms were available.

She grabbed her clothes and made her way to the bathroom down the hall. She turned on the water and stripped her clothes off. The brunette groaned at the pain in her neck, massaging it firmly with her fingers, though she knew it wasn't worth it. She decided that what she needed was a relaxing bath to let loose her muscles, so she poured some scented bath salts and hopped into the bathtub.

Mallory moaned softly as the warm water involved her skin. She closed her eyes, rested her head against the tub and let herself get lost in time. Thoughts of the previous days filled her mind. She was used to have a full house, but it was good to see different faces now and then. Not that she and her siblings didn't have friends. No, they were popular. But everyone knew that the Fabray-Roberts were a wealthy family and sometimes it was hard to tell a true friend and from someone who just wants to be friends with them by interest, so they never really brought anyone home to hang out. They just went out to the mall or bowling alley.

These kids were different, though. She could tell. They all seem pretty cool people. Even Elle had started to hang out with them more. She knew that by the end of this two week vocation, they'll be the best of friends. As her mind raced with thoughts of her new friends and where to take them here in Lima, her hands played with the water, absently forming patterns in the bubbles. She felt water running up her arm and… wait. Water doesn't run up your arm, it slides down, not up. Mallory opened her eyes and saw that she wasn't wrong. Water was creeping up her arm, curling from the tip of her fingers to her elbow.

She straitened her back and extended her arm in front of her face. There it was, clear and crystal water, now running up to her shoulder, warming her from her arm to deep inside her chest. The teen rubbed her eyes with her free hand, trying to understand if she was awake and how on earth was this possible. Yeah, the water was still there. She tentatively reached up and grazed the wet strands in her arm lightly, pulling back when her skin touched cold water.

_How is this possible?_

The water was cold to the touch, but was warming her insides like no other thing. Mallory reached out again and touched her arm a little more confidently this time. She caressed the water, dragging her finger from side to side, very slowly and when she pulled back, a string of water was attached to her fingertip. She watched, with wide eyes, and started molding the water that was circling her hand. Mallory formed a ball of water in her palm and then she pulled her hand back quickly and gazed, mesmerized, at the sphere of water floating in front of her eyes.

"Mallory!" Quinn's voice sounded from the other side of the door, making the teen jump and the sphere collapse in a thousand droplets, back into the tub.

"Fuck," She muffled.

"Mallory!" Her mom's voice sounded again, angrier. "I know you're in there, so stop ignoring me. You get out of that bathroom this instance; you've been there for over an hour. I think it's safe to say that you're clean."

Mallory was still looking at the tiles of the bathroom wall, trying to wrap her head around what happened.

"Are you even listening to me?" Her mom continued when she didn't get an answer.

"Yeah, I'm almost done," the young brunette said, finally getting out of her haze and washing her hair in record time.

"_Almost _done? Everybody's already outside by the pool and you're still in there doing God knows what. What _are_ you doing in there? One does not need an hour to shower…" She paused. "Are you masturbating?"

"Mom!" Mallory cried, her cheeks turning red.

"What? I- It's healthy for a person your age to…"

"Stop! Just stop. Please," The teen shouted from the bathroom. "I was just taking a bath to relax and lost track of time, nothing more. For god's sake."

"Well, hurry up, then," Quinn said, turning around and calling over her shoulder. "And I better not have to come here again!"

Mallory had never taken a shower so fast in her entire life. She put on a bikini, blow dried her hair and headed outside to meet the others. The little kids, plus Brittany holding Aaron, were all splashing around in the pool, supervised by a very bored looking Santana. Matt was laying down, listening to his iPod, but appeared to be asleep; Quinn, Mercedes, and Tina were chatting mile a minute, while Rachel was watching Tina's twins and little Abby playing in the sprinkler, running and jumping around the muddy grass.

A little apart from everyone else were Elle and Hailey, sitting close to each other, and talking amongst themselves with serious expressions plastered on their faces. Mallory felt a tingle of jealousy creeping inside of her. They certainly didn't need to be talking that close. They were too close. Friends didn't talk glued to each other, and they seemed to do that all the time since a couple of days ago. She marched to them and sat down on one of the chairs, noticing they stopped talking.

"Am I interrupting?" She asked, looking from one girl to the other.

"Not at all," Hailey flashed a gorgeous and reassuring smile, and Mallory forgot about everything.

_Damn, how beautiful can one be?_ She thought to herself.

_Stop! You're supposed to be angry. She clearly prefers Elle's company to yours._

_But she is so cute. And hot. Look at those abs._

Mallory shook her head to stop her inner conversation and decided to change the subject.

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to go the mall. The four of us. Johanna, too. If she wants to," she suggested. "Matt wants to buy some CD's and we could get ice cream or hit the arcade. Even shopping, if you want to."

"Sounds great!" Hailey agreed.

"Yeah, count me in. I want to ingest an immense amount of sweet icy calories," Elle seconded.

"Is after lunch okay?"

"Sure."

"Great, that's settled then."

They stayed in the sun until lunch time. Everyone headed to the kitchen, where they found Mercedes around a gigantic pan. The anonymous contents of said pan smelt heavenly good and they found out later that tasted even better. Mercedes was the best.

Brittany, like everyone else, was reclined on her chair, feeling completely full by Mercedes' wonderful stew, followed by the greatest brownies ever. If they kept being fed at this rate, she'll become a fat, lazy woman within days. She was giggling internally when her younger daughter loudly (as always) requested her attention.

"Mommy, how come Elle knows what's going on in other people heads and we don't?"

"…What?" Brittany turned to her daughter. Surely she misheard the girl.

"Elle knows what we think, don't you Elle?" The smaller blonde asked excitedly, turning to the teen in question.

Brittany thought her little spawn was getting too much sun on her head, but as she turned to Elle to laugh it out, she saw the teen wide eyed and struggling to get something out, so she decided to save the jumbled girl.

"Don't be silly, Lils. No one can read other's thoughts. Things like that only happen in movies."

"Well, I still think she can, even if you don't believe it."

"Aw, would you look at that, she's a total mini Brittany!" Mercedes chuckled and extended her arm to high five the little girl. "Awesome mind, kiddo."

Brittany laughed along with the others, but didn't miss the exchange of looks between Elle and her older daughter. Something was fishy and she was going to find out what exactly, but she decided to let it be for now.

After lunch it started to rain so they decided to do a little movie session. Everyone was gathering around the fluffy couches in the living room. Everyone but Santana, Brittany noticed. The blonde saw, through the big, glassy windows, a lean silhouette sitting on the porch. It had to be Santana. Brittany laid Aaron on his gym play mat in the center of the room and went outside.

Santana was sitting on the back porch stairs, with a cigarette between her index and middle finger. Brittany could tell that the brunette was deep in thought. Her gaze was fixed on the raindrops falling softly on the slightly undulating water of the pool, but her eyes weren't focused. She frowned as the other woman brought the cigarette to her lips and took a long drag, letting the smoke fill her lounges, before exhaling slowly. Brittany hated when Santana smoked. The brunette had stopped smoking when they were young, but apparently the addiction had come back.

"You shouldn't smoke. It's bad for you," Brittany said, sitting down next to the brunette.

Santana turned her head to her for a second, before looked forward again.

"Yeah, well, I don't really care," The brunette said with a blank expression.

"Maybe you don't, but I'm sure other people do." Santana laughed bitterly at her words.

"Sure…"

"I mean it."

"Me too. Nobody cares, and honestly, I stopped giving a fuck about it a long time ago." Brittany didn't like this person standing next to her. It wasn't the Santana she knew all those years ago. But, yeah, that was a long time ago. They weren't the same, none of them were. Brittany couldn't see Santana like this, though. Sad, but trying to be tough. Everybody needs somebody to love, to cherish.

"Don't say that. What if you get sick? Who's gonna take care of Elle?" Brittany voice was gently.

"Her father," came the dry retort.

"It's not the same. Every kid needs their mom."

"She hates me, Brittany. She'd rather be skinned alive than stay in the same room as me for more than an hour." The blonde could see the tears forming in the other woman's eyes.

"San…"

"Don't call me that," Santana said in a shaky voice.

Brittany felt her heart break a little. Apparently Santana hadn't let go of the past.

"I'm sorry," the blonde said dejectedly. "And don't say that about your daughter. I'm sure whatever problem you girls have can be fixed."

"No, Brittany. You don't know anything, so stop talking like you do!" Santana snapped, anger boiling inside her. Who did Brittany thought she was for coming back into her life like this, speaking words of support, like they never stopped talking or being friends.

"Fine!" Brittany shouted, now equally infuriated. She was just trying to help, Santana didn't need to yell at her like that. "Fine! I'm just trying to help, but I already understood that you don't want help. So stay there, sulking like a child and mad at the world, instead of at least _trying _to fix your God damn problems!" She was breathing hard now. Old Brittany might have taken it and said nothing, but she's not that girl anymore.

Santana had tears rolling down her cheeks and the blonde felt her stomach turn.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to shout like that," Brittany said, running her hand through her hair.

"You've nothing to be sorry for," Santana said locking eyes with the blonde. "I was rude. I'm the one who's sorry."

"It's okay. I understand that it's a sore subject, but you can talk to me, you know. Sometimes it helps to let it all out."

Santana paused and took a last drag of her cigarette before putting it out and exhaling the smoke deeply. It was still hard to say no to Brittany. Especially when she's sitting there, all concerned face and warm eyes, penetrating her walls so easily. Penetrating her soul.

"It's just… She hates me. She doesn't talk to me, she doesn't even look at me. She's nice to all of you, but never to me," the woman paused. "She really likes you. I can tell. Whenever we're all together, talking, she absorbs everything you say. She looks up to you and she's only met you a few days ago. I just wish she'd do that with me. I know it's my fault and everything, I haven't been around much, but it still hurts, seeing your own child treating you like a stranger."

"Have you ever approached her? Tried to talk to her?"

"Didn't you listen to what I've just said?"

"I did, but I think you're just plain scared." Brittany saw the other woman tense a little and knew she was right. She could always read Santana like a book. When Santana didn't respond she continued, "Has she ever told you that she hate… not hated, that is an awful word, that she… disliked you in any way?"

"Not directly," Santana's voice was so quiet. Vulnerable.

"See, now I know for sure that you're scared shitless that she'll actually say those words aloud." Brittany placed a reassuring hand on Santana's shoulder and was happy that it didn't get shook off. "But, Santana, I also know that she could never hate you. You're her mother. No. You're her _mom_. You have a special bond; you have no choice but to love each other. Even if those feelings are buried deep inside her, it's never too late to start digging for them."

"I'm not so sure. I feel like I missed my chance. She's not a child anymore and I know nothing about her. Don't know her favorite color, her favorite dish. I've never even cooked her a meal. And that's just basic, everyday stuff. I didn't help or explained her things when she was growing up and got her period and stuff like that. I don't know when her heart was broken or even if she had it broken. Stuff a mother's supposed to know. Normal stuff. And I know nothing. Nothing. Just how to fire a stupid gun," Santana stated desperately, more tears pooling at her eyes.

"Oh, Santana… It'll be okay," Brittany smile reassuringly.

"I hope so."

"I know so. I see so much of you in her it's crazy. You're both so stubborn and closed off. You just need to start talking and everything will be fine. I just know it."

"Thanks, Brittany," Santana said sincerely.

"You can always come to me, Santana. I miss you." Santana's heart skipped a bit at hearing those words, only to be broken the next second. "I miss us being friends."

Of course Brittany only meant as friends. _Stupid, Santana. Just stupid!_ She slapped herself mentally. She just couldn't help the little spark of hope. She still loved the blonde so much it hurt just to be close to her, knowing her feelings weren't reciprocated. Brittany was always an outgoing person, so Santana hadn't been surprised to learn that the blonde had her fair amount of boyfriends, maybe even girlfriends. She wasn't like Santana. She was able to move on. She wasn't broken without repair. She got married to a man she loved. Santana could tell that she'd loved him because the blonde had a pained expression when she explained that her husband had died almost two years ago. Her eyes were so sad. Nothing like the Brittany she used to know, always with bright, sparkly blue eyes. Well, she didn't know Brittany anymore; it had been more than twenty years. Santana herself wasn't the same, why should Brittany?

"We better get going inside, Belle must be meeting the Beast by now and Lily's always scared of him at first, even though she's seen that damn movie a million times," Brittany laughed, getting up and extending her hand for Santana to take.

"Yeah, I love me some old school Disney. It's the very best," Santana smiled, taking the blonde's hand and get up.

As they turned to walk inside they heard a scream and concerned voices from inside the house. Both women looked briefly at each other, before rushing inside. They stopped dead in their tracks when they reached the living room door.

"Oh my God, Aaron!" Brittany lifted her hand to cover her mouth.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading**


	5. Chapter 5

"_Oh my God, Aaron!" Brittany lifted her hand to cover her mouth._

* * *

Her baby was crawling up the wall. No, Brittany was not going insane. Aaron was literally crawling up the side wall, flashing his two teeth smile down to Hailey and Rachel who were beneath him, ready to catch him if he fell. Brittany ran across the room and also positioned herself glued to the wall, raising her arms to catch him, but he was too far away. The blonde was panicking. Her baby was about to be upside down on the ceiling.

"How is this happening?" Brittany asked to her daughter.

"I-I don't know, we were watching the movie and he was playing on the floor. When I turned to him again, he was no longer there. I looked around, searching for him, and there he was, crawling up the wall. I- I'm sorry…" Hailey rushed out.

"It's not your fault, honey," Brittany calmed her daughter. "How do we get to him? He's too far."

"Try talking to him. Let him hear your voice," Santana's voice sounded from the doorway.

"Yeah, maybe that'll work," Brittany never let her eyes out of her son, who was now attached with his hands and knees on the ceiling. "Hey Aaron."

The baby turned his head the best he could, given the awkward angle, and locked his eyes to his mother's.

"Come to Mommy, baby," The blonde tried to keep her voice calm and beckoned him with her hands. The boy just let out a cute giggle and didn't move an inch. "Come on honey, give Mommy a hug."

Nothing.

"Here, use this," Mallory extended Brittany a colorful baby toy.

Brittany waved the toy in Aaron's direction, and when that finally caught his attention, she wiggled it more vigorously, making a soft rattle noise. She sighed in relief when he started to crawl back to the wall in her direction, eyes glued to the toy. She wrapped her arms around his little ones the second she could reach him and pressed him tightly to her chest.

"Oh, thank God," Rachel sighed, along with everybody.

Brittany sat down on the couch, staring down at her child playing with the damn toy, shaking it in her direction and letting out ecstatic laughs. The room was plain silent. Brittany was still trying to assimilate everything.

"Okay, I'm just gonna say it…" Mercedes broke the silence. "What the _hell_ just happened?"

They all sat there, looking at each other, neither of them with an answer.

"Are we group tripping? Santana, did you spike the brownies like that time in senior year?" Mercedes turned to the other woman.

"We're tripping?" Lily asked excitedly. "Where are we going?"

"Why would I do that? There are kids in here," Santana rolled her eyes.

"If it wasn't you, who was it? And more important, where did you get the drugs?" Rachel turned to all of them, piercing them with her eyes.

The room was filled with variations of "I didn't do it" or "It wasn't me" but Brittany wasn't listening.

What if they weren't under the influence of drugs or any other substance? She recalled that day by the pool. A few days ago, the grass curling around her fingers. It was only once, but she'd never had contact with any other plants. Let alone private time to experiment. True, the blonde always thought the grass caressed her skin every time she grazed the green strands, but she always chose to ignore it.

"I don't think we're under the influence of anything," Brittany said with a hesitant voice.

"Then how exactly do you explain a baby crawling up the walls?" Tina asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, I can… I don't know how to explain this," Brittany handed Aaron to Hailey and got up, grabbing one small decorative plant placed in one of Quinn's shelves.

She could feel both anticipation and apprehension floating around the room. The blonde brought her fingers towards one of the leaves and caressed it lightly, feeling pure energy passing from the plant to her fingertips that quickly spread to her entire body. The next moment, the room was filled with gasps of surprise and disbelief, as they all watched the thin stem curl up her fingers.

"It started the day after we got here, I think. I don't know how, though. Am I the only one?" Brittany addressed the others. As she scanned the little crowd, she saw her oldest daughter and Elle looking at each other, which didn't go unnoticed by the older blonde. Brittany continued, turning to the girls. "Girls? Anything to share?"

Hailey shifted uncomfortably under everyone's gaze.

"Why would we?"

"You're not particularly subtle," Brittany chuckled.

Elle, sensing the other girl's discomfort, decided to get it all out.

"Fine. We, hmm… we've had some weird stuff happening to us too. Hailey, uh, can teleport and slash or create a change of location in her head. At least we think so. And me, well, I can listen to thoughts and sense humor or emotions," Elle finished awkwardly, eyes on the floor.

"See? I told you she could read minds!" Lily said, bouncing on the sofa cushions and pointing her finger to the teen.

"And how exactly did you know that?" Hailey rolled her eyes at her sister.

"I just do. Most of you can do something, too."

"And what's that, honey?" Brittany asked calmly, returning to the couch.

"Some are super easy, but others I don't understand very well," Lily looked shyly at her mom.

"It's okay, Lils, try your best," the older blonde smiled encouragingly at her.

"As I said at lunch, Elle can see what's inside our head and feel what we feel."

"We are yet to see any kind of proof regarding that statement," Rachel said.

"I can show you, if you want," Elle offered, concentrating in opening her mind.

_Sure you can… _Rachel's sarcastic voice ringed in her brain.

"You thought 'sure you can'." The petite woman wasn't convinced, at all.

"Pffff, please, that's the best you got? I'm certain that thought it's in everyone's mind right now," Rachel teased.

"Fair enough, try another thing then," Elle challenged with a smirk, "A very random thing."

_Barbra Streisand __has won two __Academy Awards__, __eight __Grammy Awards__, __five __Emmy Awar… _

Rachel's ranting was overpowered by someone humming a tune. And a damn catchy one.

"You were reciting Barbra Streisand's awards or whatever, before someone, namely Jaden…" She gave a pointed look at the boy, "…started to hum the Super Mario theme so damn loud, that it muffled out the oh so awesomeness of Miss Streisand."

Santana tried to contain her chuckle upon hearing those words leave her daughter's mouth, but failed terribly.

"Laugh all you want but Barbra Streisand was, and still is, the best performer in the entire world!" Rachel said indignantly, turning to Santana, who was now laughing even harder.

"But do you believe me now, or request further proof?" Elle asked.

"I think it's enough," Quinn smiled the teen's way, before turning to Lily. "Go on, dear, tell us about the rest."

"Oh, yeah. So, uh, as you saw, Mommy can play with pretty flowers and grass and make them dance and grow real fast! That was an easy one. Quinn, yours is harder. I know you can protect us, but I don't know how. You can do like a bubble thing and keep us safe."

Quinn stared blankly at the kid.

"Any ideas?" She asked the room.

"I think it's pretty obvious," Matt told his mom. "You can create force fields or something like that."

"Now you, Rachel," Lily said clapping her hands. She certainly loved all the attention. "Yours is kinda hard to understand. Something like making fluffy stuff into hard stuff."

Rachel was leaning forward, waiting for more, but it never came.

"T-That's it?"

"Yes," The kid deadpanned.

"…Okay."

"Johanna has a cool one!" Lily tuned to the shy girl, who shrunk back in her seat as all eyes landed on her. "She can disappear!"

"Invisibility?" Zach asked and Lily nodded eagerly. "That is a cool one! Imagine all the glorious pranks," he turned to Jaden and high fived the boy as Tina glared at his son from the opposite couch.

"There'll be no pranks, do you understand Zachary Chang?"

"Yes, ma'am," the boy murmured, cowering in his seat.

"What about us? Can we do something? Say yes, please!" Jaden asked eagerly.

"Yes! You're, like, a super battery, and Zach has super eyes!"

"Super eyes?"

"Super battery?" Both boys asked at the same time.

"Your eyes," She pointed to Zach "are like that thing people use to see very far. What's it called?" She asked the room, curling her fingers and bringing them to her eyes, making an imaginary set of binoculars.

"Binoculars?" Santana suggested.

"Yeah, that!" She smiled broadly at Santana, before continuing. "And you, Jaden, are just like I said, a big battery."

"Whatever that means," The boy scoffed.

"That's it? Or are there more?" Matt asked.

"Trust me, there's more," Mallory mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?" He turned to her.

"I said that there is more."

"And how would you know that?"

"Because something happened to me too." Everybody turned to her with interest. "I was taking a shower, a bath actually, and happened to me the same thing as Brittany…"

"How is that possible? There're no plants in the bathroom," Matt interrupted.

"If you'd let me finish, you'd know," she scoffed. "It was the same thing, but with water. It just started to curl up my arm. That's why I took so long this morning," she said, turning to her mother.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Quinn inquired.

"Would you've believed me?" Mallory shot back, raising a brow.

"Touché."

"So you can play with water, sis? Aweso -" Matt started with mockery, only to be interrupted by little Lily.

"And the wind, too!"

"The wind?"

"You can play with them both! How cool is that?" The little girl was having the time of her life, knowing something that no one else did. She didn't have to ask her mommy questions, she just knew. It was a great feeling. She was proud of herself.

"And you, Matty, can play with things, too."

Mallory just let out a chuckle at the kids phrasing. "Oh, I'm sure he can."

"Ew, Mallory, don't forget I can listen to your thoughts. I was perfectly fine without that image in my head."

"Sorry," Mallory said, still laughing under her breath. "Go on, kiddo."

"Matty can play with fire and earth. And it's awesome 'cause he can't even get burned! Oh, and can you imagine the prettiest sandcastles?"

"Fire! How about that, sister dear?" He wiggled his eyebrows to her, smiling smugly. "I think mine are way better than yours."

"You do? I think you'll change your mind when I put out your fire with my amazing water," Mallory smirked in his direction. "Besides, you've never done it. You don't even know if you can."

"Shut up, I know -"

"Don't even bother to start. For God's sake," Quinn interrupted. "You two are impossible sometimes."

"That's it, sweetheart?" Brittany asked her youngest daughter.

"It's only missing Santana and Zoey," the little girl continued. "Zoey's is easy; she can move things around without touching them." The kids smiled at each other, and Lily finished, "Santana's is really confusing. I can't understand how, I just see that she can walk through walls."

"Like cross a wall?"

"No, not pass from one side of the wall to the other." Lily furrowed her brows in concentration, trying to explain. "More like, moving inside the wall. Not everywhere, though. Only some places… I think. I don't know how to explain," she looked up apologetically.

"It's okay, we'll figure it out," Santana smiled warmly. "You did great."

"I think we're forgetting some important questions," Mercedes stated. "Like, how come some of us have these… powers, and others don't? Are they even real? No offense, kid," She said to Elle. "But we haven't seen anything tangible. You could've had a lucky guess."

"I can teleport now," Hailey offered shyly. "Well, try, at least. Sometimes I can't."

"Sure, go ahead," Mercedes smiled.

Hailey closed her eyes and thought about the same living room they were in, only her location was different. She imagined herself behind Mercedes' couch and felt the air shift a little. She opened her eyes when she heard gasps and a little scream of surprise coming from all around the room. The blonde teen smiled as she took in everybody's expression. All of them supported looks of shock and disbelieve. Well, all of them except Elle, who was smiling radiantly at her.

"Was it credible enough?" Hailey asked an open mouthed Mercedes.

"Uh… Yeah, pretty convincing indeed," the older woman dragged out slowly.

"Good. I think the biggest question here is 'how?'," Hailey stated, taking back her seat.

"Quinn, you're the scientist. What's your explanation?" Santana smirked towards a static Quinn.

"I- I don't know," Quinn stuttered. "This is as unbelievable as it is fascinating. I don't have a scientific explanation. I'd have to do some research." She got up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Rachel asked, slightly annoyed. "We're discussing this subject, which I consider of highly relevance."

"I know it's important and we do have a lot to talk about it, but let's be rational, we know nothing about this," Quinn explained. "We've no type of answers for our questions, so I'm going to the lab, take a sample of blood and analyze it and see if that serves for something."

"Blood? Whose blood?" Rachel panicked.

"Mine, Rachel. Lily said I can do something, too," Quinn laughed at the panicked expression. "Okay, I'm gonna go, now. The sooner I find something, the better. We can talk about this at dinner, or after dinner? It's up to you, guys."

Everybody nodded their heads and watched her go.

It'd stopped raining shortly after Quinn's departure, but they were too pumped up about this that they stayed the entire evening speculating on the couch. They were interrupted twice by Quinn. The first time, the blonde wanted more samples of blood for comparison. Brittany, Santana, Mallory and Hailey all offered to go, while Rachel just shrank back into the couch. The second time she wanted blood of the allegedly "normal" ones, and, this time, Mercedes, Tina and a brave Eleanor went down to the lab.

* * *

Later, they're already seated around the dinner table when Quinn finally joined them. The dinner was served and they ate for about 3 seconds before Mallory's eager voice interrupted the loud sound of clinking silverware.

"So, what did you find?"

"At dinner it is, then," Quinn laughed. "I found a pretty interesting thing, to be honest. I discovered that the ones that have these… abilities, have an additional pair of chromosomes. Instead of the usual 23 pairs of chromosomes supported by normal human beings, those affected have now 24 pairs. How? I have absolutely no idea. But it's fascinating, absolutely mind blowing."

"I have been thinking about this all afternoon and I think I know why some of us suffered this change and others didn't," Santana declared hesitantly, making everyone's eyes turn to her. "Taking into account those who are affected and those who're not, I can only make one connection."

Santana looked around the table and saw everybody leaning forward with anticipation. Well, everyone who was old enough to understand what the hell was going on, at least.

"Come on, spit it out!" Mercedes said exasperatedly, after the short pause.

"The day we got here, down at the lab," Santana continued, "When the tubes got mixed up and the room was filled with that creepy and damn bizarre itchy fog. We were all there, except Tina who was putting her twins and Abby to bed and Mercedes who went to check on Tori, Eleanor and Sebastian. The rest of us… all at the lab. All of us, according to Lily and now confirmed by Quinn, are different. Coincidence? It could be, but I don't think so."

All the adults and teens were silent and still looking at her, processing.

"I… I agree. Nothing happened besides that weird thing down there," Elle said, eyes meeting mother's, who gave her the tiniest of smiles. She almost smiled back, but then remembered who she was smiling to, so she turned her head, breaking the brief contact.

Santana was bursting with joy on the inside. She was positive that her daughter almost returned the smile. Last time Elle smiled at her, she didn't have any teeth. Well, technically the teen didn't actually smiled at her, but Santana saw the corners of her mouth twitch, and for now, that was good enough. Maybe Brittany was right after all. Maybe they'd be okay. Santana was brought back from her thoughts by Brittany's concerned voice.

"Now what? What're we going to do? Should we tell someone?"

"No!" Quinn almost shouted. "I don't think telling someone is a good idea at all."

"And why not? Somebody might offer us some kind of assistance, Quinn," Rachel said.

"No one qualified will just 'offer us assistance', Rachel. I know how the scientific mind works and if they ever laid hand on us, they'll never let us be. They'll test us. Experiment. Push us to the limit."

"If that's the case, then why should we trust you?" Rachel stubbornly folded her arms in front of her chest and reclined back in the chair, glaring at Quinn. "You're one of them, aren't you?"

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but you're being kind of an idiot," Quinn glared back. "In case you didn't notice, I also have a damn mutation in my genetic code! I'm as much of an experiment subject as you. Besides, you're my friends, I care about you all. I would never do something like that to you."

"Quinn's right. As a doctor myself, I think it's better for us to stay quiet about this. Any of us interested in science and genetics would be greedy to get our hands on a subject like this. They will test, exhaust, and abuse you, all the while getting gradually rich for their magnificent discovery and studies. You'll lose all your privacy, be called a freak, abomination and monster," Tina finished her rant, a little out of breath.

"Yes, I totally agree with Tina," Quinn nodded. "As far as we know, this does not affect our health and wellbeing. We have a doctor and a scientist to run tests and treat us if needed. If, for some reason, things get out of hand, then we get outside help."

"I think they're right," Hailey consented quietly.

"So it's settled. Mouths closed everyone. And that includes you, munchkins. No talking about these awesome powers, do you understand?" Santana asked with a wink.

"Totally!" Eleanor said and Sebastian nodded.

"Not one word!" Zoey agreed, while Lily pursed her lips and locked an invisible key in front of mouth.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading :)**


	6. Chapter 6

It had been two more days since they discovered their abilities. However, no one else had manifested them in any way. Not for the lack of tying, that's for sure. Many times Santana walked into a room and saw looks of pure concentration and furred eyebrows. The funniest was definitely Rachel's, who almost cried with frustration every time she failed to make something happen. Santana just chuckled but didn't say anything. The one who made her speak was Matt.

"Hey, kid, I'm gonna ask you to stop, please," Santana addressed the boy sitting alone on the couch with a tense body, clouded look and a vein popping out his forehead.

Nothing.

She sat down loudly and he didn't even stir.

"Kid!" She threw a pillow at him.

"What the…"

"Stop that."

"Stop what?" He asked sheepishly.

"Cut the shit, kiddo," she rolled her eyes at his widening ones. "Please, like you never curse. Anyway, I would be very glad if you stopped trying to light that couch on fire."

"What? I'm not!"

"Of course not," Santana rolled her eyes again. "You're just doing anything and everything in your mind for your ability to manifest. Guess what? You can, and I quote 'play with fire', therefore, if you succeed, something's gonna burn."

"Fine, I'll stop," Matt sighed. "But I want something to happen _so_ badly. Aren't you curious about yours?"

"Sure, but I know almost nothing about it," the brunette explained. "Can't do anything, so… and I sure ain't throwing myself against a wall just to see what happens."

Matt laughed, "That'd be so awesome, though." And Santana couldn't help but join him.

"Do you want help?" She asked when the laughter died down.

"What for?"

"Wipe your ass," her voice dripped sarcasm. "With your ability or whatever."

"You'd help me?"

"I'm offering, aren't I?"

"Yeah, that'd be cool," Matt smiled her way. "And you're not so bad yourself, either."

"Whatever, kid. I just don't want to die intoxicated because you burned down your mother's immaculate house," Santana responded dismissively.

* * *

"Come on, kid, focus."

Santana huffed after an hour of trying to help Matt in a secluded corner by the pool. Emphasis on trying. Some were lying on the chairs around the backyard, others were inside, playing or cooking or God knows what. Santana had no idea. She had a goal and she wouldn't stop until she saw some kind of outcome.

"I can't do it, mainly because I don't know what the heck I'm supposed to do," Matt said, frustrated.

"I know it's hard, but try again," Santana encouraged. "Just close your eyes and try to invoke it from inside you."

The teen closed his eyes and set his brain on producing something. A single flame, a tiny spark, a damn puff of smoke. Anything! But to no avail. Nothing happened._ Again._

"I quit," he sighed. "It's no use. I can't do it. Maybe Lily got it wrong."

"No, you don't," Santana stated firmly. "You're under my watch, and I don't deal with quitters. Again."

The defeated boy tried again. Nothing.

"Maybe we need a new approach," Santana pondered, looking around the vast backyard. Her eyes fell on Mallory chatting with Hailey and Elle.

"Girls?" She called loudly to them. "Could you come here for a second?"

All three girls got up and sat next to them on the grass.

"Yes?" Mallory inquired.

"Well, I'm trying to help Matt with his ability but we're getting nowhere. I was wondering in which circumstance yours manifested."

"You know mine. I was relaxing in the bathtub and it just happened," Mallory shrugged her shoulders.

"Mine was at the grocery store. A creepy man was hitting on me and I just wanted to be elsewhere. When I opened my eyes I was at the lake house I use to go in the summer, even though my body hadn't moved at all," Hailey explained. "Teleportation was similar. Elle asked me in the kitchen to do what I'd done at the grocery store a few days ago. I was trying to concentrate in the lake house again but I was sleepy and only thought about the bed upstairs. When I opened my eyes, I was there. In the bedroom, staring at the bed."

"Okay, how about you, Elle?" Santana asked prudently.

"Mine, uh, was also at the grocery store, actually," the girl replied. "I was just walking around the aisles and started listening voices in my head and thought was I going mad. The emotions thing was the night we played Never Have I Ever." She turned to the other girls. "I was teasing Hailey and was amused, but at the same time was feeling extremely embarrassed and I knew it couldn't be me," she laughed at the memory. "So, yeah. That's it."

"I don't even wanna know what you asked her," Santana chuckled. "But thanks, girls. I think Matt thing here is similar to Mallory's. You said were in contact with water?" The older woman addressed Mallory.

"Yeah."

"Cool. We're going to try that," Santana said, getting up and walking inside the house.

"Try what?" Hailey asked.

"God, I don't even wanna know," Matt rested his forehead on his knees.

Seconds later, Santana was sitting in her previous spot, throwing a matchbox in Matt's direction, who just stared at it.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" He asked confused.

"Light one up and let's see what happens," Santana threw her hands up, exasperated.

"Go on, Matt, you can do it," Elle encouraged the boy.

Matt opened the box with shaky hands and retrieved one of the many tiny pieces of wood. He looked up hesitantly before scratching the red tip against the side of the box. The match was brought to life and Matt just held it firmly in his hand.

"Don't just stare at it, do something!" His sister told him.

"Yeah, kid. Touch it or something," Santana followed.

"T-Touch it?" He asked, distressed. "I'll get burned!"

"You have to do something!" Mallory insisted, watching the match burn down.

"Holy crap, it's almost at the end! What do I do?"

"Something, and quickly!"

"Don't shout at him, you're making him nervous!" Elle defended.

"If he did something, I wouldn't be shouting!"

Matt was looking around, seeking some help, so anxious that he didn't noticed the flame reaching the end of the thin stick and licking his fingers.

He gazed down and yelped, shaking his hand frantically and throwing the burned piece of wood far away. The thing was, his palm was feeling pretty warm. Not unbearably hot, but warmer than one's usual body temperature. He cast his eyes down to his hand and let out a high pitch squeak.

"Very manly of you, Matthew, no doubt there," Mallory teased her brother, letting out a full belly laugh.

"Shut up!" He barked back, cheeks rosy. "It's not your freaking palm that's on fire!"

In the very center of his palm, small flames were lazily twirling, forming hypnotizing patterns.

"Wow…" Matt whispered. "This is so cool!" He moved his hand from side to side, up and down, watching the flames glow and dance in the air. His growing enthusiasm led him to now waving his arms so energetically that a ball of fire was expelled, full speed, from his palm, across the pool and hit a lawn chair, which burst into flames.

"Holy shit!" Santana gasped, still feeling the warmth of the fireball that flew inches away from her ear.

Mallory's palms were starting to get warm and, before she knew it, she was running towards the burning chair, hands extended in front of her, ejecting powerful spurts of water from them. Less than a minute later, the flames were extinguished and Mallory was panting besides the now smoking chair.

"Are you _crazy_?" She shouted across the pool, towards her brother.

"I- I'm sorry… I d-didn't… I'm so sorry!" Matt stuttered, pale as a ghost.

"You could've hit somebody with that shit!"

"I didn't mean to! It was an accident! It just burst out of my hand," he rushed out, filled with guilt.

"Don't wave your arms like an idiot if you can't control yourself!" Mallory said, trying to control her tone. "What if you hit one of us? It passed right by Santana's ear."

"I said I was sorry. I can't control it," the boy whispered and his sister's face softened.

"Sorry, I overreacted. It could have happened to me. It could have happened to anyone. We can't control this."

"Why are you screaming?" Quinn appeared breathless in the back porch. "Why is there a burned chair?" she shrieked, eyes landing on the still smoking chair.

"It's just –" Mallory started.

"Santana! You're supposed to be watching them!" Quinn reprehended, face red.

"I was, okay? But Matt's powers just manifested," Santana defended. "So lay off, Q. God…"

"They did?" The blonde stepped forward. "What did you do?" She asked her son.

"I, hmm, sort of shot a fireball out of my hand," he answered shyly. "Hence the chair."

"A fireball?" Quinn widened her eyes. "Oh my God, this is getting out of control. We need to do something to stop this. People will get hurt, I can feel it!"

Santana got up and led Quinn away from the kids.

"I don't think we need to stop it," Santana said in a low, yet firm voice, raising her eyes to meet the other woman's. "What we need is to learn how to control it. We need to be able to control ourselves."

"Are you suggesting we stay like this forever?" Quinn eyed Santana skeptically. "It's too dangerous, it's not natural. We can't, we simply can't."

"No, I'm not saying to stay like this forever. I'm saying we need to deal with these abilities before someone finds out and all the fears you listed became serious issues," Santana explained. "I suggest we explore and comprehend them while you search for some kind of resolution, 'cause if we don't, we're going to be exposed."

"Fine," Quinn sighed deeply. "I'm doing my best, you know. I go down to the lab every damn night to see if I find something useful, only to meet the same result as the night before. Nothing. I don't know what substances were mixed, I can't identify them by analyzing the blood. Nothing! I'm in the dark. I don't have a way to research 'cause I don't have a freaking starting point. And it frustrates the hell out of me!"

"It'll be okay, Q," Santana smiled, placing a reassuring hand on Quinn's shoulder. "Everything's going to be fine."

"I really hope so."

* * *

Dinner that night was an absolute bliss. All Quinn saw around her was grins plastered on everyone's faces, arms waving enthusiastically in the air, recreating the latest adventure of the day, the kids making weird faces to each other and she couldn't be happier. Sure, she had a full house every day, but this was different. The sight of her high school friends, having fun and getting along after many years warmed her heart. Yeah, she was going soft, but could you blame her? She was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't heard little Zoey asking her for a new knife.

Zoey had been telling a story, full gestures and all, to Lily, Tori, Eleanor and Sebastian, fork and knife in hand. During this awesome part where the giraffe and the ninja jumped so high through the mountains, the knife was sent flying backwards, landing on the floor, out of reach and with a cling muffled by the sound of 20 voices sitting around the large table.

She called to her mother, but she didn't even look her way. She was kind of far, Mercedes talking to her, but her mom didn't seem to be paying attention to her. Zoey tried again, and again, but nothing. Her stake was almost intact due to her awesome storytelling, and only now that she stopped, she noticed her tummy rumbling with hunger. She really wanted to eat the stake, it was her favorite and now she couldn't eat it because her knife was ten feet away and her mommy didn't hear her.

Zoey looked around and saw a knife holder next to the stove. Yup, that should do it. The question was how she was going to get it. Standing up sounded like the logic solution, but their chairs were placed so close to each other, that moving was not that simple. They had to fit 22 people around the table, after all. No, that wouldn't do. She couldn't eat with her hands, either. Her mom would kill her. She'd taught them manners and made sure they'd use them. If only the knife just grew legs and walked right at her. She giggled at the thought. That'd be so cool!

She looked again, and this time, she thought she saw the knives twitch.

_No, Zoey, you're dreaming. Things like knives don't move by themselves. Mom told you this. _She recited in her head. _Oh, maybe they're growing the legs! _She chuckled inwards once again and fixed her gaze on the knives.

Okay, this time she was certain that she wasn't daydreaming. They _were_ moving. They were shaking so violently that its metal handlers were clinging loudly against one another. Zoey sought someone's attention, but no one seemed to notice the knives. She then noticed that her arm was extended in front of her, and the set of knives were itching to meet her palm. She looked around frantically, heart beating a mile a minute. They were coming. The middle of the blades was already showing. A few more seconds and they'd fly, full speed, towards her and the ones around her.

"Mommy…" She called softly. Too softly. They'd fly at any minute now. She could feel them, she was the one calling them and couldn't stop it. She was screaming in her mind for them to stop, but they didn't. It was her fault. She'd wanted the knives, and now they were coming. They'd slash them all.

She started crying. She didn't want this, they'd get hurt. But they were now suspended in the air, floating, ready to strike. She needed her mom, she'd save them. Zoey just needed to scream louder. That's it, louder.

"Mommy!" She screamed with all she had, scratching her vocal chords, but it was too late. She saw the knives coming her way a split second before she closed her eyes.

Quinn froze upon hearing a scream that sent ice cold chills all up her spine. One of her babies was terrified. She turned her head to the sound and panicked. Five knives were flying across the room, directly at her little girl who was petrified in her seat, tears rolling down her shut tight eyes. Several people screamed and gasped, seeing the same scenario, but she didn't hear them, she couldn't. She had to save the ones standing in the knives path. Her baby girl… She had to save her baby girl.

Her body reacted for her in fractions of second and completely by instinct. Both her arms jerked and before she knew it, the knives clashed against something midair and fell loudly to the floor, inches from a static Jaden, who was in the way between the knives and Zoey.

Several moments passed and everyone was still, except their heaving chests.

Quinn lifted her eyes from the knives lying on the floor and gazed attentively to the place where they'd halted and fallen. She could see something move ever so slightly, like a shield maybe. A translucent barrier hovering above them all. She wondered if the others could see it. Quinn opened her mouth to ask, but Hailey was quicker.

"Oh my God, that was _insane_! What stopped them? Was it you, Quinn?"

"I think so… Can't you see it?" Quinn asked, hands still stretched in front of her.

"See what?"

_Guess not, then._

"Right there," She pointed, wiggling her finger, which made the transparent barrier dissolve in the air. "Oh no! It disappeared."

"It's all the same to me," Santana said with narrowed eyes, trying to make out something out of the ordinary.

"It was there! I swear. It was translucent, but I could tell it was there."

"Maybe you're the only one who can see it," Brittany suggested.

"Yeah, maybe you're right, Britt."

Across the table, Zoey had opened her eyes, tears of relief quickly flooding them. She let out a loud sob and Quinn was by her side in the blink of an eye, wrapping her arms around the little girl.

"Shhh, it's okay baby. It's okay."

"But… they… flying… couldn't stop…" Zoey managed between sobs.

"It's okay. Nothing happened, we're all good," Quinn rocked the girl back and forth, pressing sweet kisses in her hair, until she calmed a little.

"I'm sorry," Zoey looked up at her mother. "I just wanted a knife and… no one was listening and I wished one would come and then… I couldn't stop it. I tried, I really did! I'm so sorry, mommy. Please, don't be mad."

"Oh sweetheart, I'm not mad," Quinn smiled reassuringly. "It's not your fault, baby."

The silence reigned again in the room, only broken by a small sob from Zoey from time to time.

"So…" Santana started. "Two more powers, huh?"

"So it seems," Quinn combed her still shaking fingers through her hair. "God, they almost got slayed."

"Good thing your body did your thing, then," Santana chuckled a little.

"It's not funny, Santana," Quinn glared. "What if it didn't? What if nothing stopped the knives?"

No one answered, so Quinn continued with a dead serious expression. "You were right, Santana. We have to learn to control this, whatever this is."

"I agree," Matt voiced. "I almost shot a fireball to Santana's face earlier today, and now this? I don't want to hurt anybody and I think everyone in this room doesn't either."

"That's settled, tomorrow we begin training. No exceptions," Quinn said, looking around the room to see them all nodding in response.

* * *

**A/N: You can always drop a review or ask me something on tumblr (brittanysexpierce) if you feel like it :)**


	7. Chapter 7

Next morning they were all gathered around the living room, after breakfast, for a brief group meeting.

"Okay," Quinn spoke to the room. "I know I said we're going to train today, but we have some stuff to do before that."

"Like what?" Mallory asked.

"Like cleaning this house," Quinn muffled a chuckle at her daughter's expression. It was definitely not what Malory was expecting, she could tell.

"Are you serious?" the younger one groaned.

"Yes, I am. Have you looked around this house? It's a mess, and I'm only talking about the communal rooms. I don't even wanna know about your rooms. I bet they don't even enter the room category anymore, they must be pigpens by now."

"Where's Bonnie?" Matt asked, referring to their maid.

"I told her to get a vacation. She has to deal with you five every day, so I thought she might appreciate a break from all the madness," Quinn explained. "Besides, there are about two dozen pairs of hands here, so it should be quick."

"But Mom…" the twins wined at the same time.

"Such lazy butts, you two," Hailey laughed.

"I totally agree," Quinn smiled to Hailey. "Come on, everyone. Your rooms are your own responsibility, but they will be checked to if you cleaned them or just pretended to, later, by me or other adult, so be good or no ice cream for you tonight."

"We're having ice cream tonight?" Tori's excited voice filled the room.

"Only if you're good," Mercedes giggled at her daughter's love for ice cream.

"Let's go! It's ice cream!" She said to Lily, Eleanor, Sebastian and Zoey, who raced after her up the stairs.

"There's also the rest of the house, so once you finish your rooms, proceed to other room. Oh, and for you teens, if your room has one, that includes the bathroom too," Quinn continued to the older kids and smirked upon seeing their expressions.

"What about you?" Mallory frowned.

"I'm cleaning my room, like everyone else," Quinn responded.

"That's it?"

"After that, I'm watching the little kids, because your attitude just granted you the bonus of cleaning the first floor bathroom."

"Are you serious right now?" Mallory asked incredulously.

"Very, and with that, you now have the bathroom downstairs too."

"It's not…"

"Do you want to clean all of them? Keep talking and you will," Quinn warned, watching her daughter sulk like a toddler, but remaining quiet. "Though so. Now move, all of you."

All of the teens dragged their feet up the stairs with pouty expressions, much to the adults' amusement.

"You go, Q!" Brittany laughed.

"After five of them, you just learn how to tame them," Quinn joined the laughter.

"Let's go ladies, our quarters await," Tina said and got up.

"Fine, but I don' feel like cleaning either," Quinn pouted a little.

"You nag your kids, yet you're worse than them," Santana laughed, shaking her head.

"I don't care, I'm the mother. I rule, they have no choice but to do as I say. Simple."

"Let's get this stuff done. We have to go to the supermarket. We need food, toilet paper, tooth paste and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember..." Mercedes voice trailed off as she went up to her room, mumbling to herself.

* * *

Hailey had just finished cleaning her room (plus bathroom) and was about to close her eyes and try to teleport downstairs when she changed her mind. If she did this every time she was tired to move, she would end up obese. She chuckled a little and went down the stairs. As she passed the set of stairs of the first floor, she listened to huffing from one of the open doors. She picked her head inside and smiled at the sight. Mallory was inside the bathtub, sponge in hand, scrubbing the same spot with anger.

"Fucking soap…" She heard the other girl mumble under her breath.

"You should watch your mouth. You never know who could come in and hear your potty mouth," Hailey laughed as Mallory jumped.

"Jesus Christ, don't scare me like that, and I don't care anymore. I'm sick of plucking out my nails by scrubbing damn soap scums," Mallory pouted dramatically, eyeing her fingernails.

"They're lovely," Hailey chuckled. "Want any help?"

"See, now I know you're lying. I bite my nails, so they're never lovely," Mallory feign hurt. "As for the help, thanks, but I'm good. There's only the sink left. I'll meet you downstairs in a bit."

The girl smiled warmly.

Hailey couldn't help but smile back. "Yeah, I'll probably be in the playroom. It's a huge mess and it's going to take forever."

"I would help, but I don't think that'll be possible. I have to finish this bathroom and then clean the one downstairs, but they're enormous so they take forever. I hate my mom, sometimes," Mallory exhaled.

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad."

"Not that bad? Who needs a lounge chair or a freakin' fireplace in the bathroom?" The girl said, exasperate.

"True, but it's really pretty."

"I don't care how petty it is. I don't know how Bonnie does it, this is torture," Mallory whined.

"Don't be a drama queen." Hailey rolled her eyes but smiled fondly. She was so cute when she pouted. "You're almost finished. Then we can go and test these awesome abilities."

"I don't think I'll have any energy left by then."

"Alright, I'll leave you to it or else you'll never be done."

"Oh, but I love your company," Mallory's pout intensified.

"I really have to go, and please don't pout," Hailey smiled bashfully, which didn't go unnoticed by the other girl.

"Why, do I look cute?" Mallory grinned cheekily.

_Oh God, is she flirting with me?_ Hailey's cheeks flustered and her teeth sank down on her bottom lip.

"Maybe," she answered with a shy smile before turning around and heading downstairs.

Mallory almost melted by the cuteness overload she just witnessed. Seriously, how cute can someone be? Hailey was something else that she was sure. If she was careless, she might fall for this girl. Maybe she was already falling.

Hailey still felt her cheeks warm on her way to the playroom, when she ran into her mother.

_Please, don't notice my blush. Please, don't notice my blush…_ She chanted in her head.

"What's got your cheeks all red and warm, baby girl?" Brittany teased instantly.

_Damn it._

"They're not red," Hailey mumbled.

"Mhm… Sure they're not," Brittany laughed and winked as she walked away.

_She doesn't miss a chance to embarrass me…_

She let out a little scream and halted at the door. Two boxes of crayons were hovering from the floor to the coloring table. Zoey. Zoey made things fly, hasn't that right?

"Zoey? Is that you?" Hailey asked quietly to the room, cranking her neck, trying to locate the little girl.

As soon as the words fell from her lips, a chair was knocked to the floor and a huffed "Shoot!" reached her ears.

"Who's there?"

"It's me." A soft voice filled the room as the chair was put back in its place. It was a familiar voice, yet not one she's heard a lot. Maybe a hand full of times.

"Johanna, is that you? Are you invisible?"

"Yeah, I went invisible about ten minutes ago and I can't change back."

"That sucks," Hailey said towards the sound of the other girl's voice. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll change back," she smiled to the apparently vacant room before feeling ridiculous and started laughing out loud.

"I'm sorry, I just feel ridiculous trying to look at you while we talk and feel like I'm failing terribly."

Johanna chuckled shyly, "Yeah, it must feel pretty weird."

"You have no idea," Hailey smiled at the girl's bashfulness. "Anyway, need some help?"

"Oh, it's okay, you already tidied your room. It's not that big of a mess, I can handle it."

Hailey raised her eyebrows. The room was an absolute mess. Loads of crayons all over the carpet, games out of the boxes, messy piles of drawings clogging the coloring table and the surrounding floor, and dolls, in various states of undress, scattered all over the place. All this just in the little kids' side of the room. The other side was a little better. A web of controller wires was left on the coffee table, waiting for a patient being to untangle them, along with empty cups, dirty napkins, food leftovers, and a forest of crumbs, which also covered the carpet. Pillows adorned the pool table and, of course, the floor.

"It's not that big of a mess?" Hailey snorted. "This rooms looks inhabited by animals. And I'm sure you already cleaned your room, too."

"Yeah, but you're a guest."

"A guest that helped to build this chaos. It's only fair. You're the last person that should be cleaning this room. You read your books and you put them back after. You don't make a mess like us, savages."

"It's okay, I don't mind."

"You're too good," Hailey laughed, shaking her head and heading to the hoover. "Come on, let's get to work. I'll start this side."

"Oh my God, I'm about to pass out," Mallory panted dramatically, entering the playroom, and flopping down in one of the bean bags. "Also, why are you talking to yourself?"

"So damn dramatic..." Hailey rolled her eyes, but grinned to the other girl adorableness. "And I'm not talking to myself. Johanna's here."

Mallory lifted a perfectly sculptured brow. The famous Fabray eyebrow, as she heard Santana say towards Quinn the other day.

"I only see you," Mallory grinned lovingly, making the other girl blush.

"Well, it's not. Say hi, Johanna."

"Hi," the girl shyly replied.

"You're really here, little sis!" Mallory turned her head to the sound. "Awesome thing to gossip, by the way."

"You don't even like gossip."

"True. So, are you done?"

"I've been trying to untangle this bunch of wires for the past fifteen minutes," Hailey said, sighing heavily. "Once I decipher out this mess, I'm totally free."

"Give it here, let me try," Mallory extended her hand and Hailey handed her the mingled cables. Within a minute, the controllers were detached and Mallory was looking at her with a smug smile on her lips.

"How the hell did you do that?" Hailey asked, mouth slightly agape. She'd been battling with the damn controllers, tossing, turning and switching, and they only seemed to get more tangled as the minutes passed by.

"I'm awesome like that," Mallory shrugged.

"And full of yourself too," a suddenly visible Johanna smiled, sitting on the arm of an armchair.

"I can see you!" Hailey exclaimed excitedly.

"You can?" The younger girl asked, but knew it was true because both Hailey and Mallory were looking her in the eyes.

"Welcome back, kid," Mallory smiled.

"It's the longest I've ever been invisible. Well, it only happened twice. Three times with this one."

"Hopefully we all make some progress later."

* * *

"Are we all here?" Santana asked, making a quick head count. "Where's Brittany?"

"I'm here!" The blonde panted as she crossed the doorframe with Aaron in her arms. "Sorry, I was giving him a bath."

"It's okay, we're just starting," Santana smiled.

They were all in Hailey's room, on the second floor, which was one of the bigger ones and was at the end of the hall. All the furniture had been pushed to the corner of the room, leaving little space for all of them to move around.

"We know we don't have much space but, for today, I think it's enough," Quinn spoke. "Tomorrow we separate in two or three rooms. Today we're just doing stuff to strengthen our minds."

"Quinn? Do we need to stay?" Mercedes said, leaning against a wall.

"If you want to," Quinn shrugged her shoulders.

"It's just that we have to go to the supermarket. It's getting late and since we need a gazillion stuff and we're pretty much useless here, I thought me and Tina could go while you do your thing."

"Sure, we do need to restock."

"Great, see you later. Try not to destroy anything. Especially you, Jaden," Mercedes eyed her son before picking up Abby and turning to leave with Tina, Connor, Carson, Eleanor, Tori, and Sebastian.

"Mom, don't forget to buy cereal!" Zach called after them.

"I won't," Tina laughed and shook her head, closing the door behind her.

"Okay, sit around everybody," Santana started and everyone complied, eyeing her anxiously. "Who here as already experienced their ability?"

All raised their arms, except Rachel, Zach, Jaden and Santana herself.

"Good. Did you feel some kind of energy when it happened?"

They all nodded. Some instantly, others after a few seconds, but they all nodded nevertheless.

"Right, I would like for you to relax. Lay of the floor, on your back, your stomach, sit cross legged, against the wall, whatever makes you feel comfortable. Just let all the worries flow out of your body," Santana gazed around and no one moved. "Come on, move your butts," she clapped and they all started to move.

Most of them sprawled along the floor and others leaned their back against a wall. Lily and Zoey clasped their hands together and looked at Santana expectantly.

"Very good," Santana smiled, put some relaxing music playing in Quinn's laptop, and lay down as well. "Now, I know this seems stupid and I don't even know if it'll do any good, but I want you all to close your eyes and try to fill your body and mind with that energy. Try to feel what you felt, what kind of emotions crossed your body at that moment. If your toes tingled, if your tongue felt numb, everything and anything. For those who didn't experience it yet, just try to relax and let the energy in the room feed you. That's it, breed in and breed out, and repeat."

All of them closed their eyes, even though some of them were still hesitant. Especially the teens who were looking between them, afraid of making a fool of themselves, but Santana spoke with suck confidence and assertiveness that was difficult not to trust her. So they just followed everyone lead let their eyelids fall shut.

Half an hour later, the group was totally relaxed. Their muscles were loose and the worries seemed to have evaporated from their minds. They felt light, weightless. Zoey had even fallen asleep with her head on Lily's shoulder. There was no sound disturbing the room, apart from their deep breathing and soothing instrumental melodies bursting softly from the laptop.

Santana reluctantly opened her eyes and sat up.

"Okay everyone, I think it's enough," she spoke calmly, watching them slowly open their eyes, one by one. She felt the energy buzzing in the room, and hoped the others felt the same. "Now that we're full of good energy, I want you all to try and use your abilities."

Few moments after the words left her lips, the room was filled with colors, sounds and stuff flying everywhere. Matt had a ball of fire in each and, circling them around, and warming the room instantly. Mallory was doing something weird, like a ring of water floating around her. Hailey had a distant look, and Santana thought she must be traveling in her mind, or whatever the girl did. Zoey was making Lily giggle adorably by making the pillows of Hailey's bed float around them.

She looked at her daughter, and her face fell. Elle seemed to be really overwhelmed. The young brunette had her hands covering her ears, eyes shut tight, and was breathing thickly.

"Stop! Everyone stop what you're doing! Now!" She screamed loudly.

The room fell deadly silent trying to understand what was going on. Santana got up and walked rapidly to her daughter's side.

"Breathe, Elle. Just take deep breaths. In and out, in and out," she placed a hand on Elle's back and breathed deeply herself, hoping her daughter would follow her lead. "Block them out, block them all out."

Elle was feeling and hearing everything at the same time. Her mind was going crazy. She could hear so many more voices than before. She could feel voices of complete strangers drumming inside her head, clogging her brain with their serious problems or mere mundane things. Emotions were spiraling inside her, happiness mixed with excitement and adrenaline made her heart beat furiously against her ribcage, only to be vexed by sadness and despair, making her already racing heart thump irregularly and knocking the air out of her lungs.

She could hear, in the very back of her brain, a voice telling her to breathe and block it all out. She tried her best but it didn't seem to be working. All the voices were still ringing full force, clouding her mind. Comforting warmth was spreading along her back, filling her with renewed strength, so she tried again, harder. Even though the majority of the feelings were still twisting inside her chest, the voices, one by one, were gradually deserting her mind, making it easier to concentrate on controlling her raged breathing. Eventually, everything slowed down and Elle, still panting a little, casted her eyes up, meeting several pairs of concerned ones looking right back at her. The warmth on her back, she could now tell, was provided by an unfamiliar hand, running up and down the length of her back, soothing her body and her heart.

She trailed her eyes up the comforting arm rubbing her back and was met with eyes so familiar to her that made her body tense reflexively. Her mother must have sensed it, because she quickly withdrew her hand and broke their eye contact. Never in a million years had she thought that the reassuring hand belonged to her mother. Elle wished her thought reading was working right now; she was itching to know what was crossing her mother's mind at the moment, but she'd tried real hard to block all the voices out that, apparently, it had worked. She couldn't hear a single thought, but she could still feel emotions. They were pretty mixed, but hurt, emanating from her mother, stood out monumentally. Elle felt guilt start to invade her body, but she shook it out. After all, the woman next to her had given up on her many years ago. She had no right to make her feel guilty. Santana didn't talk to her, as far as she knew, her mother didn't even like her, so she had absolutely no right to make her feel things. Especially good things, like the soothing feeling from before.

The sudden tension was palpable in the air.

"Are you okay?" Santana asked quietly, still looking at her feet.

"Fine," Elle replied in the same tone, hiding the surprise of her mother actually saying something to her. She just wished someone saved her from this awkward situation. That, and deep down, she also wished her mom looked at her. That she showed her just a tiny glimpse of love towards her. But all she got was her mother standing up hastily and speaking up to the room.

"All right, that was an awful idea," Santana's voice was shaking a little. "We'll… try again tomorrow. Good job, guys."

The room was filled with the squeaking sound of shoes against the wooden floor, as everyone headed towards the door. Santana just stood in the same place, trying to control her shaking hands. She didn't even notice that a certain blonde had stayed back.

"You okay?" Brittany's hesitant voice reached her ears. Santana turned her head to face the blonde, but let her eyes fall to the floor just a second later. She could feel the tears blurring her vision, and she couldn't let Brittany see her like this. Santana Lopez didn't cry.

"Yeah," she answered with an unsteady voice. "I'm fine."

She could feel the blonde coming closer before feet entered her line of sight.

"Except you're not," Brittany said softly, hand reaching towards Santana's chin, urging her to look at her. "Santana…"

Reluctantly, the brunette locked her teary eyes with Brittany's impossibly blue ones. The rush of emotions crossing through her body was overpowering. Brittany was staring deep into her eyes, into her soul, and she couldn't shake off the sadness and regret pooling inside of her for so many years. Her lip trembled and a new torrent of tears slid down her cheeks.

Brittany, upon seeing the brunette's state, stepped forward and wrapped her arms tightly around her shaking frame, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Santana just shook harder with the power of her sobs, and buried her face in the crook of Brittany's neck, inhaling the sweetness and comfort of her scent. They stayed like that for long minutes. Or it could have been seconds, Santana didn't know. She just felt safe, feeling the warmth of Brittany's body against her. They parted, and in Santana's opinion, it was too soon. She missed the comfort provided by Brittany instantly.

"God, I'm a mess. I think I've cried more since I've been here than the past ten years," Santana let out a small chuckle and lifted her eyes, only to be met with Brittany's serious face. "Don't look at me like that. I'm okay, now. It was just a little breakdown."

"People don't breakdown when they're okay, Santana," Brittany said disapprovingly. "So don't act like you are, because I can see you're not. You're hurting because of Elle, and I can't even imagine what you're feeling. I told you before and I'll tell you again, you can talk to me."

"We already talked about it, Brittany," Santana turned her head to her right, fixing her gaze on the wall. "There's nothing to add to it."

Brittany listened to the slight quiver in the other woman's voice and felt her chest tighten. She decided not to press the subject, though. It was obvious that Santana didn't want to talk, so she just squeezed the brunette's shoulders and pulled her in for another hug.

"I won't make you talk, but if you change your mind, you know where to find me," Brittany spoke gently into Santana's ear, the soft breath making the fine hairs of the brunette's neck stand up and chills run down her spine, before letting her go and heading out the door.

Santana let out a shaky breath as she watched the last flash of blonde disappear in the doorway. She missed Brittany so, so bad. She shouldn't. She really shouldn't. She should resent Brittany and her choices, but if she was being honest with herself, they were both to blame and she still loved the blonde with all of her heart. They couldn't be lovers again, that Santana knew, but she needed Brittany in her life. If not as lovers, as friends then. Her heart ached at the mere thought of losing Brittany again when this vacation was over, but it was just a matter of time, really. In just a few days, Brittany would be back in Los Angeles, and Santana would return to her lonely life in New York.

* * *

The following afternoon, they all gathered around for another session. Just like the afternoon before, they started with fifteen minutes of meditation to get their heads in the game.

"Okay, today, we're trying something a bit different from yesterday," Santana stated. "I was thinking that we could maybe explore the powers a little bit and try to trigger the ones that didn't manifest yet."

"Not all at the same time, though," Quinn said. "We wouldn't want a repeat of yesterday."

"Yeah, I was thinking we could form groups or something. We have to separate, too. We don't have much room to move here."

They all divided in two groups. Santana, Rachel, Zoey, Lily, Jaden, Zach, and Quinn with Aaron in her arms, all went to the room in front, leaving Brittany, Hailey, Elle, Matt, Mallory, and Johanna in the other group.

When the larger group headed out the door, all the teens partnering with Brittany turned to her.

"What?" She asked, noting all the eyes on her.

"What do we do?" Hailey asked her mom.

"Why should I know?"

"You're the only adult here, Mom. You're in command," Hailey laughed at her mom's panicked expression.

"I… What would you like to do?"

Surprisingly, was Johanna who stepped forward, "I want to be able to turn invisible and visible, when I want to, not randomly."

"Okay, we can try that, what else?"

"I already got the handle of this teleportation stuff, what I want to find out is if I can take things with me when I do it," Hailey said.

"I just wanna practice this fire and earth stuff, I don't think I got it down yet," Matt shrugged.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna try manipulating the air today, never done it," Mallory added and walked to a corner of the room, followed by Matt.

"How about you?" Brittany asked, turning to Elle.

"I don't know, I can't try many things," the young girl replied, eyes glued to the floor.

"Why?" Brittany frowned.

"I can't try anything because I have to work with someone else's mind. I could never ask for something like that. I think it's disrespectful and violation of privacy."

"You can try it with me," Brittany offered.

"Are you serious? I'll read your thoughts and I don't know what else could happen."

"It's okay, I'll make your life harder and try to block you out," the older woman teased. "Besides, there's no plant life here, so I don't have anything to do."

"If you're sure..."

"I am. Now, what do you have in mind?" Brittany smirked.

"Well, I can read thoughts, that's for sure, but can the other person block my 'invasion'?" Elle asked, using air quotations.

"No idea, kiddo. Let's try it, bring it on."

Elle focused and soon was listening to the various thoughts floating in the room. She furrowed her brows in concentration, and now, was just Brittany's teasing tone filling her brain.

"_Come on, Elle, I'm waiting."_

"I'm listening."

"Oh, I know! Let's try something!" Brittany exclaimed excitedly.

"What?"

"_I can't hear you."_

"I said I was listening."

"_Still can't hear you, Elle!"_

"What do you mean?" The girl shook her head slightly in confusion.

"_You're talking, and your lips are moving. I wanna hear you without any lip movement."_

"That's not possible, though."

"_You can hear me and my lips aren't moving."_

"Do you mean, like, talking directly into you head?" Elle chuckled. "Wow, it sounded even stupider aloud."

"_Your lips are moving, I can't hear you!"_

Hearing Brittany's teasing tone was bringing out Elle's competitive side. She clenched her fists and tried to project something directly to the blonde's head, but Brittany just stood there with a playful smirk.

"_Come on."_

Brittany thought that maybe Elle had the same strong competitive spirit as Santana, and she wasn't wrong. She was teasing her and suppressing her chuckles every time the teen reacted just the way her mother did when they were young. Never one to stand back, the girl had her fists clenched tight, and eyes completely focused, yet nothing reached Brittany's mind.

"_Silence… Utter, complete silence…"_

"Nothing's happening…" Elle let out though gritted teeth.

"_Try harder, miss,"_ Brittany replied joyfully.

"I'm trying!"

"_I can't hear you, your…"_

"…_Lips are moving! I get it!" _Elle's frustrated voice sounded loud and clear in Brittany's ears, but no lips moved this time.

"Good girl," Brittany lifted her palm up to high-five the brunette.

Elle unclenched her fists and gazed at the woman before her with wide eyes.

"I did it?" She lifted an uncertain hand and pressed their palms together, a small smile creeping up her face.

"Yup!" Brittany smiled back, "Again."

Meanwhile, in the other room, Santana had decided to try and trigger Rachel's ability. Days ago, Lily had said something about Rachel making hard things soft or something, so Santana joined forces with Zoey, and was making the little girl toss objects in Rachel's direction.

"Santana, stop! This is getting ridiculous!" Rachel shrieked, cowering when yet another pillow collided with her ribs.

"Another, Zoey," Santana commanded, and the little girl quickly complied, flexing her fingers and making a not so fluffy decorative pillow collide with the side of Rachel's head.

"Ouch! That was not a soft pillow!" Rachel protested, spitting stands of hair from her mouth.

"Do something about it, then. And I suggest you do it fast, because objects will get harder every time," Santana chuckled kind of cruelly, but the sight of the disheveled Rachel Berry before her was just too amusing.

"Throw a slipper at her, kiddo!" And a second later, a yellow slipper was flying towards Rachel, who shrieked and ran around the room, trying to escape, only stopping when she heard a loud thud of the slipper colliding with the wall, inches away from her.

"Are you crazy?! That would've hurt me!" Rachel scoffed when she saw Santana laughing at her account. She turned to Quinn and the other kids, only to see them in a similar state, sitting against the wall, trying to muffle their snickers. "Quinn! This is not amusing! Tell your daughter to stop."

"Sorry, Rachel, I promised Santana that Zoey was all hers while we're here."

"So you're just going to remain there, mocking me?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"This is unbeliev…"

"Heads up, Berry!"

Rachel turned her head to Santana, and saw the other slipper flying full speed in her direction. She squeaked and ran away to the corner of the room, but she was too slow. The flying object hit her right on the shoulder.

"Good aim, Zo!" Santana high-fived the laughing 6-year-old.

"Santana, this doesn't seem to be working. Let's put an end to it," Rachel whined.

"Oh, it will work as soon as you stop running and really have nowhere to escape, like right now," Santana smirked when the other woman gulped visibly, aware of her trapped position in the corner.

"Santana…" Rachel warned, her chest heaving when she saw the woman smirk and lean down to whisper in Zoey's ear.

Zoey nodded to whatever was said to her and extended her arm in Rachel direction. Rachel felt her body freeze. She couldn't move her arms or legs, no matter how hard she tried. She was stuck. And starting to panic.

"Santana, this isn't funny!" Rachel almost cried. "Tell her to let me go."

"Santana, I think that's enough," Quinn stated worriedly, looking from one woman to another.

But Santana just ignored them both. She wasn't stupid or reckless. She had told Zoey to change the trajectory if Rachel didn't react. Santana didn't want to hurt her. She just knew that in order to have a response from Rachel, she had to put her under a stressful or dangerous situation. That seemed to be the triggering factor in the majority of the other powers.

When Santana nodded, Zoey did exactly as she was told. First she made the slippers fly again. When she saw that Rachel just closed her eyes and whimpered, she reduced the impact force a little.

"You're not even trying," Santana sighed, "Next one, Zoey."

A rolled up magazine sped in Rachel's direction, hitting her in the arm with a resounding smack.

"Awful. I suggest you do something next, Berry," Santana said, eyeing the next object floating beside her. "It's gonna leave a pretty bad mark if you don't do something about it."

Upon hearing Santana's words, Rachel cracked an eye open and let out a gasp. A wooden photo frame was levitating next to Santana's head, ready to come her way at any second.

Rachel noted Santana's slight head nod, and next thing she knew, the wooden piece was flying towards her. She felt helpless, unable to move an inch. It would hurt so badly. She knew Santana always disliked her, but this was taking things too far. Rachel just had time to shut her eyes tight and hope the damn frame didn't hit her in the face. The pain would hit her any millisecond now.

Curiously, the pain never came, only the softest pressure against her chest. Rachel opened her eyes in time to see the once hard frame softly undulating, light like a feather, towards the floor.

"You did it!" Zoey squeaked excitedly, clapping her hands.

"See, told you it was going to work," Santana smirked smugly.

"I still think this could have ended terribly," Rachel chimed in, taking a tentative step forward and walking towards the others sitting on the floor, when she discovered that she could move her body again.

"Huh… where do you think you're going?" Santana stopped the small woman. "We're not finished here."

"I'm tired of your torture, Santana. Can't we take a break?"

"Such a wuss… but fine. Who's next?"

"I'll go," Quinn stood up and looked at Santana, "Now what?"

Santana glanced mischievously at Zoey, "Get her, squirt!"

They used the same technique on Quinn; Zoey making things fly towards Quinn, but unlike Rachel, the blonde was doing a great job. One after the other, objects were hitting Quinn's invisible protective shield, falling to the floor, unable to penetrate it.

"Awesome, Quinn!" Santana praised, while the kids cheered. "Let's make things a little harder, let's try two at the same time. Think you can handle it, blondie?"

"Bring it on," Quinn retorted, a challenging smirk appearing at the corner of her lips. She flexed her knees slightly, and furrowed her brows in concentration, waiting for the horde of flying things to come at her.

Things were going great. Quinn's skin was starting to shine with perspiration, but she was able to hold the bubble around her hit after hit. She had to admit that it was a little difficult to keep the shield upright, now that several objects were trying to bring it down. But she was not a quitter, she was going to keep it impenetrable, she could do it. She was Quinn Fabray. It was getting harder to hold it by the minute, but she could do it, if it wasn't for Santana Lopez joining the party. The dark haired woman decided to help her daughter, and threw a book from a different direction. The opposite angle of attack and too many things colliding with her shield was enough to make it crumble. Not only did it crumble, but all the stuff thrown her way hit her in distinct parts of her body, making her land with her ass on the carpet.

"Oh my God, Quinn, are you okay?" Santana ran worriedly to the blonde's side.

"I'm fine," she replied, rubbing her elbow. Quinn looked around her and saw what struck her. There was a pillow, the photo frame that Rachel had make soft and was again stiff, and the glass pretty much shattered now, a green candle, and of course, the book. "But that book sure is hard."

"I'm sorry, I though you would hold it."

"Yeah, me too. At least now I know that stuff from places not directly in my line of sight is not so easy to block," Quinn shrugged and took the hand Santana offered her to lift her up.

"I guess we should stop for today, we don't want more injuries."

"Injuries? Is anyone hurt?" Tina's worried voice sounded from the doorway.

"No, I just fell flat on my butt," Quinn smiled.

Tina chuckled a little, "Anyway, Mercedes sent me get you all, dinner's ready. I'm going to tell the others."

"Okay, we'll be down in a minute," Santana smiled at the retrieving woman.

* * *

Dinner time was one of Santana's favorite. All of them would share their progress with the powers, and discuss ways of improving. At this moment, the table was practically shaking with laughter as Quinn told them about Rachel's training. Santana had never been a crowd person, but for some reason, sitting at Quinn's dining table, surrounded by all those grinning faces, she realized that she loved this. It'd only been a week and some days, but she'd grown to love these people, these kids, and decided that she didn't want to be in her lifeless apartment anymore, living a lonely life.

Sure, she had no one to live with, since Elle would never want to live with her and her heart was not available to someone new, but Santana could always invite the girls and the kids to come visit. That would be fantastic.

"…did you, Sanny?" Lily's voice brought her back from her thoughts.

"Huh?"

"I was saying that you didn't give up on Rachel."

"Yeah, well, I knew she would do something sooner or later," Santana shrugged.

"I still think you were just doing that to torture me," Rachel pouted slightly.

"Maybe… you should've seen your face," Santana cracked up, soon followed by Quinn and then everyone at the table.

"Come on, let's clean this mess," Mercedes said, still chuckling once in a while. "Movie time is up next and then bed. I don't want you all dragging yourselves around nor sleeping until lunch. We have to spend some group time, and that won't happen if you get up late and train in the afternoon, so get moving people."

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry that this has been moving slowly until now, but things should start to happen next chapter. ****Thank you so much for reading, and drop a review if you feel like it.** :)


	8. Chapter 8

"Alright, have fun honey. Yeah, love you too," Quinn smiled at her husband's childlike enthusiasm as she pressed the end call button. Nathan, Quinn's husband, and his mates were leaving after lunch to golf at Hawthorne Hills, which was in about an hour.

They were about to leave too. They were going to old Breadstix. Santana had said yesterday during movie time, when they watched Lady and The Tramp, that she missed Breadstix's food, so they made plans to take the kids there to lunch and then hit the park. Although there were lots of things around Quinn's house to keep them entertained, they could use the change of scenery.

Quinn was in the kitchen with Brittany and Santana, packing some bottled waters and cereal bars into her bag. The kids would certainly be hungry later on after all the running in the park. Brittany was also chopping some apples into a Tupperware bowl, while Santana was fishing them every once in a while.

"Santana, would you stop!" Brittany slapped Santana's hand lightly, and Santana just grinned at Brittany's adorable face before throwing another piece of fruit into her mouth. "You'll be full by the time we get to Breadstix."

"Oh, please, I'm always hungry for some breadsticks."

"I don't care, stop stealing them."

"I'm just making sure they're good," Santana batter her eyelashes with faux innocence.

"What you could be doing is helping me slice some."

"Not that you deserve it, but since I'm the sweetest person on earth, I'll help," Santana said jokingly, picking up a knife. "Even though I think you have enough already."

"I don't. If one kid is eating something, they all want some too."

"And how would you kno…" Santana words were muffled by a loud ringing coming from Quinn's phone placed on the table.

Quinn just stood there, looking with a frown at the phone.

"Are you gonna get that or what?" Santana poked Quinn gently on the ribs.

"I-I… It's from work…" Quinn stuttered. "I don't understand why they're calling; they know I'm on a break."

"Well, there's only a way to find out. Answer the damn phone," the brunette rolled her eyes.

Quinn reached forward and hesitantly pressed the answer button.

"Hello?"

"_Quinn? Oh, thank god! You need to hide. You need to pick up your family a-and hide or something!"_ The familiar voice of her co-worker and dear friend, back when she worked at the laboratory, ringed urgently in Quinn's ear.

"What? James, please, slow down. I can't understand a thing, what's going on?"

"_There's no time to explain! Just… Are you home?"_ The man continued to rush words through the speaker.

"Stop, stop! Take deep breaths... That's it… Yes, I'm home, now explain."

"_God, Quinn. We're all doomed!"_ Quinn could practically see the tears in James's eyes.

"What do you mean?" The blonde let out a deep sigh. She was starting to get frustrated at the lack of actual answers.

"_Do you remember that series of experiments we did years ago, with the blood and the rats?"_

How could she forget? The outcome had been disturbing to say the least. She nodded her response before remembering that James couldn't actually see her.

"Yes, what about it?"

"_Some of the blood bags in storage were administrated today."_

"Administrated? What do you mean administrated? Hasn't the whole research classified as unstable and highly dangerous, and the blood bags destroyed?"

"_Apparently not, at least not all of them. As you know, I receive information about everything that comes in and goes out of the laboratories thanks to my hacking abilities, so I can tell you with 100% accuracy that four of those blood bags left the storage labeled as 'emergency'. Their destination: the Lima Memorial Hospital."_

Quinn felt the blood drain from her face and her heart drop at his words. Oh god, this could not be happening! She pulled a seat at the kitchen table, unable to support herself on her trembling legs.

"Quinn? Is everything alright?" Brittany's concerned voice sounded so distant that she easily shook it off. She needed to think quickly, to find a solution. She needed to take these people and get them the hell out of here.

"_Quinn?"_ This time was James that called her name.

"Are you absolutely sure, James? This is a very serious matter," Quinn finally let out after several seconds of silence.

"_I'm positive! I called the hospital as soon as I knew, and asked about the lot of those blood bags. They told me that they'd already been administrated."_

"Fuck, what're we going to do?"

Santana raised her eyebrows and glanced at Brittany upon hearing Quinn swearing. Quinn Perfect Fabray didn't swear.

"_I don't know, but you don't have much time…"_ James paused uncertainly. _"To be honest, you don't have any time at all. According to the nurse back at the Lima Memorial, it's been two hours since the last blood transfusion…"_

"Two fucking hours?! Are you serious? Why I'm only hearing about this now?" Quinn was seeing red. She slammed her hand on the table and got up from her seat abruptly, making her chair fall backwards.

"_Quinn, calm down, please…"_

"Calm down?! You must be shitting with me right now! I know how quickly it spreads, James, I was there too, remember?!"

"_I was called to do damage control in the government, I couldn't have told you sooner… I…"_

"Sorry, James, but I really don't care. I'm hanging up; I need to get out of here..." Quinn walked in circles around the kitchen, running a shaky hand through her blonde locks.

"_Wait!"_ James pleaded urgently from the other side of the line. _"They're about to make an official statement via television. It starts in three minutes. People will be running once they hear it, the roads will be full of people trying to escape and will end getting trapped in traffic. There's no escape then."_

"And if I stay here there is?" Quinn let out a dry and mad laugh. "I seriously doubt it."

"_I don't know, Quinn! I don't know anything, okay?! I'm panicking just as much as you here. I just know that if you go out on the streets right now, you'll be stuck, and then you'll have no chance. I think you'd have a better chance if you stay home."_

"What, staying here, unmoving, waiting to be caught? You're far away from here, you can run away!" She screamed to the mouthpiece.

"_It's not that simple! Listen, I'll get you out of there. I don't know when or how, but I'll find a way, Quinn, I promise."_

"This is insane, I can't just stay here, Jame- "

"_I have to go now, they're going on air on every TV and radio station,"_ James rushed through the phone. _"But promise me you'll stop at least a second to consider this. You know the right thing to do… Please, Quinn. Keep your phone available. I'll say something as soon as I can."_

"So you're just…"

_Beep, beep, beep._

"Hello? James!" Quinn screamed to the phone before growling and throwing the device against the wall.

"Qui-" Brittany didn't have time to finish. Quinn was already bolting out of the kitchen, towards the living room. Santana and Brittany didn't have other option but to follow her.

They caught up with Quinn, who looked utter pale and stressed out, and was now throwing the cushions to the floor in her hurry to find the remote.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Santana spotted the remote next to the TV, and wiggled it in Quinn's direction. She regretted it instantly when she almost lost a finger due to the blonde snatching it up from her fingers.

"Geez, Quinn, almost lost a finger here. What's this madness for, what's going on?"

"Shut up! I'm trying to turn it on!" The blonde barked at Santana.

"Fine, no need to-"

"Shhhh!" Quinn threw her a dead glare and held a finger up in her direction to quiet her as some official sounding music burst through the television speakers, soon followed by the troubled face of none other than the President of the United States of America. Whatever it was, it was not good news. But Santana had figured that out by now... Quinn's swearing and all.

"_I, Frederick Goldberg, President of the United States of America, and The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hereby interrupt transmissions all over the country to announce its citizens that, since this morning, we're currently facing a serious pandemic situation._

"_A severe fault in blood bag storage security resulted in the administration of several contaminated bags to patients at Lima Memorial Hospital, in Lima, Ohio, thus conducing to dissemination of a highly contagious virus from that location that is estimated to affect great part of the country's population._

"_The full consequences of this virus are yet to be known, and we're doing everything in our power to control this situation as fast as possible. Nevertheless, be aware of odd aggressive behavior, along with other known symptoms such as loss of rational thought and cannibalism._

"_Transportation out of the country, such as planes and boats, will be prohibited in order to prevent further contamination. With that said, I appeal for calm and enforcement of the measures that will follow on the screen._

"_Until additional instructions, I can only wish you all the best of luck."_

The graying man faded off the screen, and was replaced by a list of instructions with only four items in it, which were squared between the CDC logo and some phone numbers.

_Report unusual behavior_

_Barricade your homes_

_Avoid contact with infected individuals_

_Wait for further official instructions_

Santana was still gazing dumbly at the list remaining on the screen that didn't seem to be going anywhere soon.

_What the fuck?_

"What the fuck?" Santana voiced her inner thought, breaking the tense silence in the room. She turned to Quinn, who seemed like she was going to puke at any second. "Quinn?" The blonde snapped her head so fast that she almost broke her neck. "Is this what I think it is?"

Brittany's soft, trembling voice echoed in the room, "What does this mean?"

Santana turned to look at Brittany, and felt her heart squeeze at the sight before her. It was clear that Brittany didn't understood the situation fully. Hell, even Santana didn't, but it was obvious that she could tell that something was seriously wrong. Her face was also pale white and her eyes were wide open, waiting from some kind of explanation from the two apprehensive women in the room. Santana turned her attention to Quinn, once more, urging her to reply.

"I don't… I… We're so fucked…" Quinn breathed out heavily, running her shaky fingers again through her hair.

"What exactly does that mean? Dear Mr. President conveniently wasn't very clear about the effects of the virus, or whatever."

"It means that we're utterly screwed. I worked with that samples of blood a while ago in one of my many researches, and I've seen the results."

"Come on, Quinn; spill it out, stop being evasive!" Santana almost yelled, in the verge of losing her patience. She hated being in the dark. Plus, they were in a hurry if Quinn didn't notice.

"Basically?" Quinn bit her lip as her wide eyes darted quickly from Santana to Brittany. "Zombies."

"Zombies? Are you serious?" Santana asked, not sarcastically nor judgmental, just devoid of emotion.

"Yes, I was part of this experiment with rats' blood and genetically modified DNA, a few years ago. Basically, the altered rats would seek the others and bite them, sometimes chunking pieces of skin and flesh, to feed from it and the blood. At first we thought that the attacked rats were dead, but sometime after, they would wake up and show the same symptoms as the infected ones. It took about 10 minutes to infect a horde of 30 test subjects."

"Thirty rats in ten minutes?" Santana asked disbelievingly. "How many altered ones did you join the others?"

"Two."

"Only two? Shit…" The brunette sat down on the couch to steady her shaking knees. "Your phone call was about this?"

Quinn nodded as she sat in the opposite couch. "It was one of my partners during this experiment. He called to warn me about the accident, or maybe not accident, and said pretty much what they said on the TV."

"Did he know how many people were infected?"

"Yeah, four."

"Four…?" Santana shot up the couch and walked to the door. "That means that probably the entire hospital is already infected by now."

"The blood transfusions happened about two hours ago," Quinn whispered, eyes cast on the carpet beneath her feet.

"Two fucking hours?!" Santana yelled so loud that it echoed around the room and hallway. "What the hell are we doing here? We need to get out of here as soon as possible!" She rushed to the door.

"Santana, wait," Quinn voiced softly, but everyone heard her loud and clearly in the silent room. "James, my co-worker," Quinn added when she saw the confused looks on both of her friends' faces. "He said that everyone would try and get away from here as soon as they hear the news and end up caught in traffic with nowhere to run or hide."

"And you think that's a wise idea?" Santana let out a humorless laugh.

"I think we shouldn't be discussing this without the others," Brittany finally let something out, making the other two turn their heads in her direction.

"Britt's right, we should decide in group," Quinn got up from her seat and took a couple of steading breaths. "Brittany, could you please get the others while Santana and I go to the gates to see what's going on the streets?"

"Sure," the taller blonde replied shortly before leaving the room.

"Let's go, let's see how it is out there. Then we decide," Quinn dragged Santana hurriedly by the arm, through the entire length of the front yard until they reached the silver front gates. Quinn's security guard, Mr. Daniels, had the day off, so the blonde reached his cabin, pressed a code, and after a low beep and a green light, the heavy gates came to life.

Quinn pressed a red button, and the gates stopped, leaving only enough space for them to slip out. Santana went first, heading to the road, but stopped abruptly, making Quinn's body collide with her own.

Pandemonium reigned from the beginning to the end of the street. Dozens of frantic and shouting families were packing whatever they could find at arm reach in their cars. Children were crying in the backseats while their parents hassled in and out the house, shoving food, blankets, and pillows next to them. No doubt they're trying to get out of the town, all of them.

"Look at it," Quinn whispered behind Santana. "And this is only my street, I can't even imagine the rest of the state."

"You're right," Santana turned back to the blonde. "They're going to be stuck in traffic, it's useless to…"

Santana was cut by a bone chilling scream coming from the end of the street. Both women turned to the horrifying sound, only to find an even more horrifying view. About eight deformed bodies were visible at the very end of the street. Some with completely pale skin, others with bluish skin, but all of them had blood coating them, more specifically around their mouths and hands. Immediately, people ran to the cars, backing them up the driveway. Even just at the end of street, the cars were beginning to clog the exit of the neighborhood. The drivers were honking wildly and shouting offending words to each other in desperation to flee from the grisly figures that were quickly approaching.

Santana felt Quinn tugging urgently at her sleeve, but her feet seemed to be glued to the floor.

"San, move! We have to get out of here." With a particularly hard tug, Santana finally moved her feet clumsily backwards, until she was inside the gates again. She snapped out of it when Quinn let out a loud curse. The blonde was fumbling with the gates' remote, trying to hit the right button, but failing miserably due to her shaking hands. Santana extorted the remote from Quinn's fingers and hit another red button under the word 'lock'. The gates quickly shut, followed by another beep and the light turning red, signaling that the gates were, in fact, locked.

They reached the front door panting from running up Quinn's lengthy driveway. The other women were waiting for them in the hall. Mercedes and Tina were sitting on the bottom steps of the stairway, Brittany was leaning against one of the poles, and Rachel was pacing in front of them.

"Thank god, what's going on? Brittany didn't say much, just something about the undead, but she must have misunderstood, you know how she can be…" Rachel bombarded the pair entering through the front door.

"Brittany didn't misunderstand anything," Santana growled, jumping automatically into protective mode.

Rachel just stared at her as she had grown an extra head. "…I don't understand."

"No? Let me break it down to you. There are fucking zombies out there!" Santana practically screamed in the smaller brunette's face, pointing her finger to the door.

"But that's preposterous…"

"Yes, it's ridiculous, but it's happening. Santana and I went outside to see if we could get out of here safely, and we saw them," Quinn interrupted with an unsteady voice.

"You saw zombies?" Tina asked skeptically.

"Yes! Real, bloody, disgusting zombies coming up the fucking street!" Santana panted loudly.

"Why are we here?" Mercedes got up. "We should be in a car and getting the hell out of here."

"The street is blocked by all the cars-"

"And why are we the only ones here, then? Why didn't I hear this before? We should be out there too, trying to escape instead of standing here, waiting to be eaten alive!"

"I'm sorry, Mercedes, but you're being stupid," Santana said in a slightly calmer tone. "If even this street is blocked, imagine the bigger ones, where all the cars in Ohio will run into each other! They'll be stuck; no one's going to make it!"

"So what do we do?" Brittany asked in a scared whisper.

"I have a panic room next to my lab. I'm thinking we can go there," Quinn stepped forward, adopting a leading posture. "It's not very big, but I think it can take us all. Since I'm not sure the gates will hold them, whatever they are, I figured our best chance was the panic room. It'll be practically impossible for them to break through."

"I guess it's our better option," Santana nodded along.

"I have some mattresses down there, but they're only enough for the kids, me, and…" Quinn's face turned a horrible shade of green, "Oh my god, Nathan…" She looked around frantically, palming her pockets. "Where's my phone?" She ran to the last place she remembered using her phone, the kitchen, but halted at the doorway when she came across the several pieces of her phone scattered around the floor. Shit, she shouldn't have done that, her phone was precious right now.

Quinn turned back around to the hall, towards the house phone placed in a table next to the stairs. She picked up the phone, and searched the contact list for her husband's number. Once she found it, she practically smashed the call button and held the device to her ear. It rang and rang, but no one seemed to be on the other side. She called again, and when nobody answered, she dialed again. Only at the fifth try she was met with some sort of response from the other side of the line.

"Hello? Nathan?" She yelled desperately. The reply wasn't what she'd been expecting though. Somebody answered but no one spoke, just the distinct beeps of fingers hitting the buttons, an annoyed grunt, and a loud crash followed by the row of successive beeps signaling the end of the call.

"No! Dammit!" Quinn roared, and before she could throw the phone to the floor in frustration, Santana, who was closer and anticipating the blonde's actions, grabbed her arm and snatched the phone from her hands, only to disappear in the same instant.

"Santana!" Brittany shrieked when the Latina disappeared in thin air, right before her eyes.

"Where did she go?" Mercedes asked in a concerned voice, looking around for any sign of the woman.

"She was sucked inside the phone… God, this cannot be happening! Not now!" Quinn said in a desperate voice and with tears running down her face.

A second later, Santana was crossing the living room doorway, looking a little disheveled and shaken up.

"Santana! Are you okay?" Tina quickly went to her side, doing a rapid scan of Santana's body.

"Yeah, I guess."

"What happened?" Brittany soon joined Tina, helping Santana sit on the steps.

"I got out of the TV, I guess… It happened so fast. I think I got sucked by the phone, and got out at the television in the living room… What the fuck."

"I guess that's what Lily meant by moving inside the walls…" Brittany commented quietly. "Speaking of Lily, where are the kids?"

"Getting ready to go to Breadstix, I suppose," Tina looked up the stairs. "How are we going to tell them?"

"I don't know, but we need to get mov…"

"MOM!" Quinn was interrupted by a scared shout coming from two floors above them. Soon Mallory was stomping down the stairs, white as a ghost. "Mom, there's… t-there's something out there," the teen stuttered, panic-stricken.

"Oh, honey," Quinn said, opening her arms to hug her daughter, who was on the verge of tears. "I know, come here."

And Mallory did. She practically ran to her mother's arms and buried her face in the crook of her neck, letting out quiet sobs.

"Shhh baby, it's okay," Quinn knew it was definitely not okay, but as she ran her fingers through her daughter's smooth hair, she felt the motherly need to hold her, to comfort her with reassuring words, even if they were the biggest lie that ever came out of her mouth.

"What are those things?" Mallory asked, her voice muffled by her mom's shirt.

Loud clinking noises were heard faintly, coming from outside. No doubt that something was at the gates. All the women looked anxiously at each other, but surprisingly was Brittany who took command.

"We need to hurry up," the tall blonde instructed. "Right, Tina and Mercedes go get the kids and bring them to the panic room, while the rest of us get some more mattresses, pillows, blankets, and some food."

"Yeah, the code is… Oh no, it needs my fingerprint to access the panic room," Quinn frowned.

"No, it doesn't. It only needs to be from one of us," Mallory said and turned to Mercedes. "Get the little kids, mark the code 24862, and then have Zoey press her finger in the square thingy. You must be able to get in then. The rest of us will carry the things down, the more the better. Remember, 24862."

"All right, let's go," Brittany nodded her head once and went up the stairs.

Fifteen minutes later, the last mattress, transported by Brittany and Mallory, was placed on the floor near the entrance. It was Brittany's first glance at the room, and she had to admit that Quinn had done a pretty good job with it. The room was a nice size, with three double beds, nothing fancy but enough given the circumstances, that were now pushed together to make room for the additional mattresses that were placed next to them in the corner further away from the door. They had brought three double mattresses, a little bigger than the ones already in the room, and two singles that could easily bear two people. These were pressed against each other to make a bigger one.

Next to the door was an additional door that gave access to a bathroom. The panic room was a little crowded with all the extra people and objects, so two shelves had been pushed to the corner next to the bathroom door, and now that everybody was inside, a small table and chairs were moved in front of the main door.

Quinn, or whoever it was, really had thought about everything. One shelf was full of canned food, snacks, and every other type of food with a large expiration date, only leaving the last divider with a stash of plastic plates, cups, cutlery, and even dish detergent, a sponge and cloth. The other shelf was a little different. The upper half had board games, books, a pack of regular cards, and another pack of Uno cards. The bottom of the shelf had drawers of where Quinn was pulling out blankets and throwing them on top of the beds.

"Mommy, what are all these mattresses for?" Eleanor asked Rachel, who gazed wildly around with wide eyes.

It was Tina who jumped to save her, "We're having a… super slumber party."

"We are?" Lily and Zoey asked at the same time, with identic excited expressions on their faces, while others like Zach and Jaden let out grunts of boredom.

"Yes…" Tina replied, rubbing her neck uneasily.

"Awesome!" Tori jumped in.

"Alright everyone, sit down!" Mercedes shouted to make herself heard in the noisy room. She, Santana, and Quinn sat around the table fumbling with bags of bread and stuff like peanut butter, jelly, and cheese to make sandwiches. It was past lunch time after all, the kids must be starving. Luckily they didn't question the abrupt change of plans.

The same could not be said about the older ones. While Brittany handed them their food, they'd stare at her with inquisitive eyes, which made her uneasy. How do you explain something like this? But they would have to tell them, sooner or later. The little kids may not understand that something was obviously wrong, but they knew. People don't go to panic rooms to have slumber parties. Besides, Mallory already knew. It's just a matter of time before the others knew too.

After lunch, as the kids all gathered around a mattress playing a board game, the adults decided to make a meeting. All women sat in a circle, cross-legged, in the bed farthest away from the kids. Before they could start though, Elle came up to them and told them that she wanted part of whatever was about to start.

Brittany guessed Elle had been fishing thoughts from their heads, and really, who could blame her. If she'd been forced to a panic room without apparent reason and every mother in the room was looking worried and scared as hell, she'd been probing their heads too.

Seeing Elle get up and murmur that she wanted to know what's going on, Mallory followed her lead and backed the brunette.

"I think this matter should be discussed merely between adults," Rachel said.

"I disagree," Elle replied coolly. "We have the right to know what's happening. Besides, we're not little kids anymore. One more year and we'll also be adults."

"Yes, something is seriously wrong, and I'd appreciated if you didn't keep us in the dark." Mallory looked around between all adults, until she stopped at her mom with pleading eyes. "Please, I already saw them. I just want some kind of explanation."

Both teens waited impatiently, while the adults looked at each other apprehensively.

"Can you give us a minute, please?" Santana finally asked.

The girls could only nod and returned to the mattresses.

"What's going on? Why're we rushed down here?" Matt asked once they sat next to him and Hailey.

"I bet they won't tell us anything," Mallory to Elle, completely ignoring her brother.

"They might. According to general thoughts, I think it's pretty bad," Elle shrugged her shoulders, but the lump in her throat was visible.

_I know it's bad, for sure. _Mallory thought.

"How do you know?" Elle turned fully to her.

"Uh…" Crap, she forgot Elle could read minds. "I saw them outside."

"You _saw_ them?" Elle whispered, eyes widening. "When? Where?"

"J-just before we came here, I saw them outside my window. I'm the only one who can see the street from the window."

"I'm sorry, but you saw what exactly? Some of us know nothing!" Matt interjected, while Hailey nodded her head next to him.

Mallory and Elle exchanged glances.

"Zombies," Elle whispered so softly that the rest of them almost didn't hear. "At least that's what they're calling it in their heads."

"_Zombies_?"Hailey squeaked, making some heads turn to them.

"Shhh!" Elle hushed quickly.

"I'm sorry! But you have to admit that this is kind of surreal!"

"Yeah, it was a pretty horrible sight," Mallory whispered quietly, looking blankly to her hands resting on her lap.

On the other side of the room was occurring a heated whispered discussion, which was pretty much between Rachel and Santana.

"They're just children! They shouldn't be exposed to this kind of situations!" Rachel murmured harshly, her cheeks turning red from the effort of fighting Santana.

"Guess what? This situation is happening! They have all the right to know, at least the older ones. They're not little kids anymore. They're perfectly capable of making their own decisions. If they want to be integrated, I say we let them."

"They don't have maturity to deal with this –"

"And you have? None of us have! None of us are ready for this, but it's happening, so we have no choice but to deal with it! If I was their age and this was happening, I wouldn't forgive my parents for keeping me out of this."

"Only this isn't about you, Santana! This is about our children and keeping them safe." Smoke could almost be seen coming from Rachel's ears.

"Don't you even dare insinuate that I don't care about my daughter's safety!" Santana growled, leaning forward threateningly, which made Rachel shift slightly back in fear. "Because I could care less about what happens to me as long as she's safe."

"I'm with Santana in this," Tina said shyly.

"Me, too. I think we should take their opinions into account," Brittany alleged quickly, taking advantage of the interruption in Santana and Rachel's bickering. "If we shut them out, I'm afraid they'll resent us and create more problems than we already have."

Brittany fidgeted nervously with her fingers when no one said anything.

"I just think it'll be better if they trust us and see that we value what they have to say," Brittany added, "because, let's be honest, I don't know what the hell we're going to do. I don't want to have to worry about them doing something reckless like run away or something just as stupid."

"Britt's right," Quinn concurred, "we should tell them. They're going to figure out what's happening anyway, better have them on our side."

"Alright, who votes for letting them in?" Santana clapped her hands silently.

All nodded their heads confidently, except Mercedes, who was a little hesitant, and Rachel, who only crossed her arms in front of her chest and remained stubbornly still.

"Fine!" Rachel huffed, realizing she didn't stand a chance. "I still think this is a mistake –"

"It's not, Rachel," Tina interjected the short woman, with tears filling her eyes. "It'll be better if we're getting along when they figure out that everyone out there is gone or on their way to be. And as much as it pains me to say this, that includes their fathers."

"Yeah," Quinn said with equally watery eyes. "I mean, look at Nathan… I-I'm pretty sure he d-didn't m-make it."

"You don't know that, Quinn," Brittany rubbed her arm affectionately.

"Thanks, Britt, but that phone call didn't leave much of a margin of error." Quinn let a single tear slide down her cheek, before wiping it with a wobbly hand.

"Who should we call?" Tina asked quietly, eyeing the teens.

"From Hailey up?" Santana whispered back.

"Yeah, the four of them sounds good," Quinn said, wiping the remains of tears from her eyes.

"Okay, I'll go get them."

Santana walked to the four teens trading hushed words between themselves and cleaned her throat, successfully gaining their attention.

"Let's go."

It was the only words she said to them before returning to the circle on the bed.

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**A/N: Hope you liked it and thank you for reading :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the delay, but I've been really busy with college. Anyway, here it is and hope you like it! Oh and I didn't have time to proof read it so I'm sorry for the mistakes.**

* * *

Once they all sat down, nobody let out a word.

"Okay, I'm gonna start," Tina said after moments of stressed silence. "I want to know what's happening and how did you three," she pointed to Quinn, Santana, and Brittany, "knew that something was wrong outside."

Santana explained everything with Quinn's help, now and then. From Quinn's phone call to the announcement of the President on the TV. What made them go outside, what they saw there, and why they decided to stay right where they were.

"So what do we do now?" Hailey asked for what felt the thousandth time in the last hour.

"Don't know, kid…" Santana sighed. "I suggest we stay here until things outside are a bit calmer."

While they were between four thick walls, they could still hear the loudest noises made outside through the air duct on the ceiling.

"We need protection," Quinn said. "I don't want to be and feel helpless."

"Protection, what do you mean?" Rachel furrowed her brows. In her opinion they were as safe as they could here.

"We need weapons. Guns, stuff like that," Santana deadpanned.

"How are we supposed to get them?" Quinn asked with a concerned expression. "The closest thing to a weapon in this house is a baseball bat."

"We have the kitchen knives too," Mallory murmured.

"We'll think about it when the time comes," Santana hushed them. "More important than that is how we're going to move outside."

"You want to go outside?" Brittany asked in a small but surprisingly steady voice.

"We have no choice, Britt," Santana smiled sadly at the blonde. "Sooner or later, either to find means of defense or to get food, we'll have to go outside."

"I suppose..."

"I could teleport there," Hailey suggest quietly.

"There's no way _in hell_ you're going out there, do you understand me?" Brittany glared at her daughter, who cowered in her place.

"Just suggesting…"

"I don't care! You're not going anywhere outside these walls."

Quinn nodded her agreement, "I agree. None of you will be going outside. It's not safe."

"But you're allowed? That's not fair, we wanna help," Matt said with confidence in his voice.

"This is not up for discussion, young man!" Quinn silenced her son.

"Does anyone even know how to kill a zombie?" Elle asked, followed by Rachel's frantic nod.

"Well, the theory in every movie and video game is to finish their cerebral activity," Mallory started hesitantly. "They're already dead; the only thing keeping them going is the brain. In order to kill a zombie, we need to destroy the brain."

"Make sure to keep that in mind, everyone," Santana said steadily. Maybe it was from her years in the army or just the need to protect all these people, but her leading facet was kicking in more than ever. "Our first priority is, without a doubt, to find food and weapons. However, we also need to find out if there's a way of getting out of here. Supplies will disappear, eventually."

"James said he would get us out of here," said Quinn.

"And how is he gonna to do that?"

"I don't know, he said to have my phone accessible," Quinn looked down at her hands shyly.

"The one you shattered on the kitchen floor?" Santana asked calmly.

"I'm sorry," the guilty blonde wiped a tear that fell from her eye.

"It's okay, Mom," Mallory rubbed her mom's back comfortingly. "Could happen to anyone."

"Yeah, no one's blaming you Q," Santana offered her an understanding smile. Really, she didn't blame Quinn at all. If someone had basically said that we're all going to die – or worse – Santana would have done the same think, if not worse.

"I think we should really dig into our abilities," chimed Hailey, looking nervous when all heads turned to her. "They might be really helpful outside."

"Or get in our way if we don't know how to control them," Mallory added, smiling at Hailey who shot her a small bashful smile back. "Imagine if we panic and do something weird that keeps us from running."

"You guys talk as if you're going out there yourselves," Santana snorted.

"I just think we could be really helpful –"

"It's not worth it, punks," Brittany asserted, her lips twitching slightly upwards.

They continued to organize and list thing that they needed to do and get, neither of them keeping track of time. Only when Lily approached them informing that the rest of the horde was hungry, they realized it was past 8 pm.

Brittany was surprised that the kids had lasted this long without whining about being hungry. They must have been really entertained with whatever game they'd been playing all afternoon

Tina, Quinn and Mercedes walked to the canned food on the shelves, asking what which of them they wanted to eat. As Brittany went to pick up Aaron from the bed where he'd been playing and cooing to a blue octopus plushie, she realized that she didn't have anything to heat the milk for her baby. With the hurry to come to the panic room, she'd forgot to bring down the milk warmer she'd bought when she got here because she'd left hers at home.

"Everything's okay?" Santana asked upon seeing Brittany's face turn even more worried.

"Not really."

"What's wrong?" The brunette frowned, switching gazes between Brittany and the boy in her arms.

"There's nothing for Aaron to eat here. I need to boil water to make his bottle, and also bring the bottle warmer for later."

"That's okay, I'll get it."

"You can't go upstairs," Brittany whispered sharply. "You don't know what's lurking up there, Santana."

"I'm sure it's fine, Brittany," Santana rolled her eyes slightly but was beaming inside because Brittany still cared a little about her. "We haven't heard anything from upstairs and I won't let Aaron starve."

"I can see if he eats some mashed peas from the cans or something. I don't want you or anyone to go there because of me."

"Brittany, it's settled," Santana declared, looking pointedly at the blonde. "Besides, I won't let you feed him that canned crap. It can't be good for him."

"But…"

"No buts. I'll be back in a second, just boil the water and come right back." And Santana turned back, heading in Quinn's direction, before Brittany could say anything.

"Quinn, I need to go to the kitchen," Santana said bluntly.

"_What_? What for?"

"Boiled water for Aaron's bottle."

"Crap, totally forgot about that. Let's go then."

"You don't need to come, Quinn. I got it."

"You're not going alone and unprotected, Santana," Quinn glared at her. "And you need to get in again."

"I'm not completely unprotected, I know how to fight," Santana frowned. "I've spent my live in the army."

"I don't care, you're not going alone. Now, come on."

Quinn went to let the others know where they're going, leaving a huffing Santana behind.

Once outside the panic room, they were met with darkness. They took several seconds to adjust their eyes to the dark. Having kind of a silent agreement to not turn the lights on, both women climbed the stairs, almost blindly, placing their hands on the wall for leverage. They made their way to the kitchen aided by the faint moonlight coming from the windows. Guttural noises could still be heard faintly from outside. Nothing like in the afternoon though, where the commotion had reached its pinnacle. At least here in Lima, Ohio. Santana supposed it was because there was no one left to feed of. They were still out there, nevertheless.

Quinn's actual house was far from the gates, so they should be shielded from unwanted eyes by the tall trees in the long driveway and the walls surrounding the entire residence. Santana closed the kitchen blinders as quiet as she could muster anyways. They could be quiet sons of a bitch, prowling right outside the window, for all that she knew. The thought made her uneasy. Now that Santana thought about it, it had been kind of reckless coming upstairs without even the baseball bat Quinn had mentioned. Well, they'd have to come up unarmed in order to get it, so.

While Quinn poured water in the kettle, Santana undressed her jacket and rolled some of the sharp knives from the knife stand in it.

"Hey Q, do you have a radio? Maybe we could get some information on the rest of the country. Don't know if anyone's broadcasting, but I think it's worth a try."

"Hmm, maybe in the garage," said the blonde uncertainly, obviously disliking the idea of having to go there.

"You don't have to go, Quinn," Santana reassured, sensing Quinn's reluctance. "I'm the one who wants it so…"

"Nonsense, we're in this together. If you go, I'll go. Besides, the baseball bat is in there too."

The kettle beeped softly, announcing that the water was ready. Quinn rummaged through the cabinets and fished a thermos to where she poured the boiling water, leaving out a portion ready to use.

"This way the water will stay warm if the power goes out and the milk warmer won't work," Quinn explained seeing the other woman's brows furrow in confusion.

"Oh… clever Quinnie," Santana teased playfully.

"Are we ready to go?"

Santana just nodded, grabbed the milk warmer and secured her jacked with the knives under her arm, and the pair made their way down the stairs again, only this time Quinn turned to a door Santana had failed to notice the only two time's she'd been down there. She supposed it was the access to the garage and she felt her heart start to speed up again. The garage had a direct connection with outside. If something was inside, it was highly probable that this had been the way in. No immediate noises seemed to be coming from the other side of the door, but who knew. They had no idea how zombies behaved in real life.

"Quinn, wait a minute."

Santana lowered the milk warmer to the floor and unrolled her jacket revealing the big knives. She took one to herself and extended another to Quinn, who started to breathe even heavier than before.

"What do I do with that?" The blonde whispered nervously, not making any real movement to grab the weapon.

Santana shrugged her shoulders, "Just in case."

After Quinn wrapped her shaky fingers around the handle, Santana slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door. Every sense in Santana's body was enlightened. Her eyes were wide open, trying to find any movement in the partially dark room, her ears ringed with every quiet step her and Quinn made into the room, and her knuckles turned white from gripping the knife like her life depended on it. Well, she guessed it kind of did. Yes, the kitchen knife was a poor weapon if they really encountered a zombie, but still, it was better than being empty handed.

Santana breathed a little lighter when all signs pointed that she and Quinn were the only moving beings in the garage, yet she didn't let her guard down. She couldn't deny that the she was getting creeped out by the damn shadows from the slow movement of the trees outside, visible through the row of small opaque windows on the top of the garage gate.

"Come on, let's find the radio and the bat, and get out of here."

Santana basically just backed Quinn up. It was her house after all. She would know where she kept her stuff.

They found the baseball bat right away, but even though it only been a couple of minutes, it seemed hours later when Quinn finally found the radio and they were able to get the hell out of the garage. Why did everything seem much scarier at nighttime? _The undead wandering outside sure don't help either,_ Santana thought to herself.

Quinn locked the garage and pocketed the key as Santana once again wrapped her coat around the knives. With a press of a fingertip to the fancy device, they were able to enter into the panic room where everyone was happily munching on whatever food they were having. Everyone except Aaron, who was fussing in his mother's arms, crying his lungs out.

"Are you alright?" Brittany practically ran to them, looking a little desperate but also relieved that both women had returned safely. "Did you get it?"

"Yeah, here," Quinn handed her the warm water and told her to reserve the one in the thermos for later, before going to check on her kids.

Brittany handed the crying baby to Santana, who panicked visibly. The blonde just smiled in amusement

"I'll be back in a second," Brittany chuckled slightly, turning her back to the pair, getting the powdered milk that Quinn had put on the shelf. She then opened a bottle and filled half of it with the hot water. Opening a new bottle of water, she finished filling Aaron's bottle in order to even out the temperature. Finally, Brittany added a dose of powdered milk and shook it a little to homogenize the mixture, all the while looking at Santana and Aaron from the corner of her eye.

Santana's efforts to comfort the boy were kind of adorable, even though they didn't seem to be working. Santana was being so sweet that Brittany couldn't help but linger back a little, watching Santana snuggling Aaron against her chest, rocking him softly, and whispering sweetly in his ear. A grin spread involuntarily across Brittany's face. She would have stared a little longer at the endearing sight, but her baby was hungry and she really didn't like when her children cried.

Brittany checked the milk temperature again by pouring a few drops on the back of her hand. She nodded her head approvingly and Santana handed Aaron back to his mom.

"Go eat something," Brittany smiled up at Santana as she sat on the bed. "Oh, and Santana? Thanks. A lot."

The brunette just nodded and smiled back. The truth was, even if they didn't part in exactly good terms in the past, Santana still cared for Brittany more than anything. She'd do anything for her.

* * *

After dinner, Matt and Mallory had found a fantastic way to entertain everyone before bed, since they obviously didn't have a television to watch a movie, like usual. The twins had divided them in four groups, giving each one a specific sound. There was clapping, snapping fingers, clicking tongues, and patting on the knees. It took a while to the younger ones get the hang of it, but once they got it, they were happily singing along to the familiar tunes they were reproducing with body parts.

Santana found herself clapping and laughing along, grinning like a mad woman, momentarily forgetting the chaos outside, until an occasionally weird sound made its way thought the air duct. Nevertheless, she was having great fun. Matt and Mallory were great at entertaining. It seemed to Santana that they'd done this a bunch of times before. And maybe they had, with all the younger siblings, it was actually quite probable,

Soon they decided to call it a night and went to bed. That was another headache. Sleeping arrangements were proving to be more difficult than they'd anticipated. The four little girls stubbornly demanded that they all sleep together or paired up. There weren't beds for everyone so they would have to fit several in each bed or mattress. After much discussion Eleanor, Lily, Tori, and Zoey all laid down in one of the bigger mattresses. They laid with their heads to the side of the mattress, instead of the top, so that they all fit in it.

The younger boys, Zach, Jaden, and Sebastian, also took one of the big mattresses. Tina shared one of the beds with her two twins, Mercedes and Rachel shared another, Quinn took Abby and Matt offered to sleep with them. The rest of the girls made their to the two joint mattresses; Johanna on the far left, Mallory next to her on the middle, followed by Hailey, also in the middle, and lastly, Elle, who took the right end of the big makeshift bed, leaving a bed to be shared by Brittany, Aaron, and Santana.

No one had brought pajamas so they basically took off their shoes and jackets, and got under the blankets.

Brittany laid down on the left side and Santana on the right with Aaron in between. Santana was on her back with her eyes closed, allowing her brain to take a break from the grueling day. It was unbelievable the amount of crazy stuff that could happen in twelve hours.

"You okay?" Brittany asked quietly, her voice slightly muffled by all the hushed talks and giggles around the room.

Santana opened her eyes, turned her head to the side and felt the corners of her mouth lift up in a smile. Brittany was lying on her side, eyes closed, rubbing slow circles in Aaron's belly.

The brunette just shrugged, "Are you?"

"As far as possible, given the situation."

They stayed quiet for several minutes. The murmured conversations subsided as people were falling asleep. Santana wondered if the other adults were also sleeping, and if they were, how could they? She certainly couldn't. At least not really fall asleep, she was too alert for that. The noises from the street were almost inexistent now. It seemed calm even. The calmness did nothing to soothe her, that's for sure.

"Do you think we'll make it?" Santana heard Brittany's soft voice when she thought everyone had fallen asleep.

Santana turned to her side, facing Brittany. The blonde's fearfully eyes were gazing directly into hers. In a bold moment, Santana lifted her hand and placed it upon Brittany's, still in Aaron's tummy. She half expected the blonde to shrug her hand off, but Brittany didn't even twitch. She just stared deeply at Santana.

"I wish I could say yes, Britt, but I really don't know," Santana sighed. Her fingers seemed to have mind of its own since she couldn't help them from tracing feather light patterns on the back of Brittany's hand. "But I'll do everything I possibly can to keep you and everyone safe. I promise."

Santana watched as Brittany dropped her gaze to their hands, and when she looked back up, tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Santana tried to control the urge to get closer and comfort the other woman. She was being successful until Brittany slammed her eyes closed and a tear made its way down her cheek. In that moment, she couldn't take it anymore. She reached up to cup Brittany's cheek and wiped the tear with the pad of her thumb.

"Please, Brittany, don't cry."

"I'm sorry," Brittany turned her face slightly into the pillow to muffle her sobs while Santana ran her fingers through her hair. "It's just… I'm just so scared. So scared of what might happen to my babies."

"Shhh… I understand. I fear the same thing, but there's not much we can do about it. The only thing we can do is to just be strong and stick together."

"Yeah, I know." Brittany looked back at Santana as her sobs subsided. "It's still scary, nevertheless."

Santana just nodded, still running her hand through blonde hair, occasionally grazing her cheek. Brittany's breathing eventually turned deeper and even, letting the brunette know that she'd fallen asleep. Santana didn't sleep. She remained the rest of her night on her side, looking at Brittany's features. At some point of the night, several parts of her body went numb from being in the same position for so long, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Brittany looked so peaceful sleeping, so untroubled, so beautiful that all Santana could do was continue to stare, memorizing every dip of her face, every soft wrinkle that now adorned her face.

It was still early in the morning when Aaron stated to stir, diverting Santana's attention from his mom. Santana got up as quietly as possible, snuggled a still sleepy Aaron in her arms, and went to check the temperature of the water in the thermos. It was still perfectly warm, so she retrieved everything she needed from the shelf and made a bottle for the baby.

Elle woke up to small clinking noises. She lifted her head from the pillow and saw her mother feeding Brittany's baby. It was like a punch to the stomach. The image before her seemed to physically pain her. There was her mother, holding Aaron in her arms with a look of absolute adoration in her face. Doing something her mother had never done for her. Elle honestly didn't know what was wrong with her. Why didn't her mother love her? Was she not pretty enough? Not smart or funny enough? Was she not special enough? Elle had always wondered where she'd gone wrong at such young age. What flaw made her mother practically loathe her.

She used to wonder if the problem wasn't herself, and her mother was like this to everyone. But now, seeing her mother's loving eyes looking at someone else's child, she couldn't help but feel that all those thoughts had been right. She was, in fact, the problem. And to make things even worse, more real, she could feel the doubtless happiness radiating from her mom at that moment.

Elle felt herself about to cry. All her mother felt towards her was uncertainty and nervousness. She turned to her side as quietly as she could and let her silent tears hit and wet the pillow.

She must have fallen asleep again, because the next thing she knew, she was being gently nudged out of her sleep. She opened her eyes and met Hailey's blue ones looking back at her.

"You okay?" The blonde asked almost inaudibly, noting the redness and small bags under Elle's eyes.

Elle just nodded slightly.

"You can count on me if you need to talk," Hailey smiled a small smile, not wanting to pressure the other girl.

"It's nothing, but thanks," Elle returned the smile, feeling that Hailey's concert was genuine.

"If you need me, I'm here. Now, let's get up. Everyone's already having breakfast."

Indeed, everyone was already up, either eating breakfast or taking their turn on the shower. Elle wondered how the hell she was able to sleep through all this noise. Now that she was awake, she was rapidly gaining a headache from all the screaming and screeching over breakfast.

The whole day had passed by rather slowly and uneventfully. The kids soon became restless and bored from being confined into the four small walls for so long, making them into little brats.

Santana on the other hand had spent part of her afternoon in the farthest corner from the door, with her back against the wall, fumbling around with the small radio they'd brought from the garage the night before. She went from frequency to frequency but wasn't successful. No one seemed to be on the other side. She didn't give up, though. She continued to change stations, hoping somewhere, someone would give them some king of input.

It wasn't until after the little kids fall asleep that Santana was able to find something.

"Finally," Santana mumbled under her breath.

Upon hearing the unknown voice of a man fill the room, everyone awake made their way to Santana's side.

"You did it," Quinn breathed out.

"Yeah, yeah, shhh."

"… _situation is getting chaotic. The virus is qui … spreading, people are in utter panic, unable to fly or ride out of the country. The number of infected indiv … uals is multiplying like crazy. In just 24 hours every state east from the origin, Ohio, is … pletely infected. To west, last thing I've heard, Kansas was already about 80% infested. I don't know if anyone's listening out there or not, but I don't know how long it'll take to reach us all. It seems… the more people are aff … ted, the faster it spreads. It could be hours or it could be … inutes until the rest of the USA is completely taken by the undead … ish whoever's still aliv … re the best of luck. Until the next broadcast."_

The male voice that'd been speaking was cut off and the radio went silent.

"Find another station," Quinn said, reaching forward to grab the radio.

"No!" Santana shouted, moving the radio out of Quinn's reach. "It took me the entire fucking – "

"Language!" Mercedes reprimanded.

"Fine, it took me the entire afternoon to get something. At least we know someone's broadcasting from this station. If we change it, we may not be able to find it again."

"Whatever."

"Kansas, can you believe it?" Brittany muttered.

"And New York, my home, my neighbors… god, my husband," Rachel broke down. Mercedes rubbed comforting circles on Rachel's back, but wasn't better herself. All of their husbands were worse than dead by now.

"What're… we g-going to… t-tell the children?" Rachel managed through sobs.

"I don't know if we should tell them," Brittany said. "It's going to be so hard on them. I saw how my kids got when their father died," she looked at Hailey, who nodded her head in agreement, her eyes glassy. "Their friends are gone; practically everyone they know is gone. Frankly, I don't know how to deliver news like this."

"They're just children, I think we should shelter them as long as we can," Tina said. "This whole thing could be severely traumatic. They shouldn't be forced to deal with this."

"I say we drop this for now. We'll just keep them away from outside. We have more important matters to deal with, like surviving for an undefined period of time," Santana said while carefully placing the radio aside.

"Are we going to get out of here soon?" Mallory asked, looking around the room.

"We planned to go upstairs tomorrow if it's safe."

"Good, I don't think I could take another day of screaming in a confined space."

"Don't be a drama queen," Quinn rolled her eyes, but let out a chuckle. "You screamed a lot when you were a kid and I still love you."

They talked for a while before heading to bed. It was late and everyone was tired from another day stuffed inside the same room.

After checking every inch of the house and verifying that nothing had passed the gates, they breathed in relief. The kids were more than happy to be out of those four halls, even if their moms made them promise to never go outside without an adult or warn them first. Luckily Quinn's house had lots of entertaining stuff to do.

Santana had been fidgety ever since they came out of the panic room. They idea of being practically out in the open without solid protection was unnerving her. She was used to have her guns with her at every time. Especially if she was in a dangerous situation. She had to get some weapons. And fast. She couldn't get them alone, that would be a suicide mission. She needed help, but that meant that others would be exposed to danger as well, and Santana couldn't fathom the idea of someone getting hurt at her expense.

"What's wrong? You've been off since we've came back upstairs," Brittany said to Santana after lunch, when the kids had wandered to the playroom and they were the only ones left in the kitchen.

"Hm? Nothing's wrong," she lied lamely.

Obviously Brittany saw right through her, "Santana… You don't need to lie to me. Something's clearly bothering you. Well, besides the whole zombie thing."

"It's nothing, really. I'll find a way," Santana shrugged.

"We're a team now. We need to start behaving like one," Brittany stated sternly. "Now, what's bothering you?"

The darker woman sighed, "I feel unprotected, we have nothing to defend ourselves with."

"Then we have to get weapons somewhere."

"It's not that simple, Brittany. We have to go outside, to encounter whatever is out there in order to get them."

"I know that. Sooner or later we have to leave the house. We'll need food soon, and that's a thing that we can only get by going out there."

"You're right, but I don't want anyone to get in danger," Santana admitted, lifting her eyes up to meet Brittany's.

"Is that what this is about?" Brittany asked incredulously, making sense of Santana's previous words: _I'll find a way._ "Santana, you cannot be serious. You're not going anywhere outside this house alone. That's pure insanity."

Santana was a little taken aback by Brittany's perceptive skills. She's never mentioned wanting to go alone. "You don't understand. I've seen so many friends be killed right in front of my eyes. I don't think I can take losing one of you."

"And don't _you_ understand that we feel the same way about you?"

Santana didn't say anything back, just lowered her gaze down to her hands folded in her lap.

"No one's leaving this house alone. That's the law, starting today," Brittany said firmly but with a small smile ghosting her lips, placing her hand briefly on top on Santana's. "Now, get up and let's go. We need to work on these powers; some of them could be really useful out there."

Brittany was right so Santana sighed and got up from her seat. They made their way up the stairs towards the rooms they used to practice. When they neared the doors they could already hear people inside. All the teens were there, some paired up, others alone, but there they were increasing their skills.

It seemed that they'd taken this ability stuff pretty seriously. And now that Santana really looked at them in action, she had to admit that they'd grown so much these past days. Matt and Mallory were doing awesome patterns with fire and water, mixing the two elements each could control. Mallory was creating a spinning water cyclone, while Matt raised an overwhelming fire wall that warmed the whole room. Santana hoped nothing would catch fire, they certainly didn't need more stuff to add to their problem list. Hailey was appearing and disappearing here and there, carrying objects in her arms. Sometimes the bigger ones would fall on the floor the moment she teleported, making the blonde teen visibly frustrated. She didn't quit, though. She would walk decidedly to the fallen object, pick it up, and try again over and over. Johanna was exerting the same tactic as Hailey, only instead of teleporting, she was trying to make things turn invisible with her. Elle seemed to be meditating, sitting cross-legged in the most secluded corner of the room.

Santana didn't know how or when they'd turned so good. She hadn't seen them practice. Maybe they're more focused than her. Or it could be that they'd had more time to train since she'd only found out about her ability a couple of days before and didn't have the time to work on it. Either way, she better work her ass off if she wanted to reach these kids level.

Santana had sat down and tried the wall traveling thing again, but until that moment, nothing. She was sure her lack of success was due to her mind being thousands of miles away from the task at hand. The absence of means of defense was really bothering her and clouding her mind. That and Brittany, who was caressing some weird shaped plant – her work, for sure – making it grow and shrink whenever she pleased, throwing discreet glances – that definitely didn't go unnoticed – in Santana's direction every couple of minutes.

Not a minute later, Santana got up with a deep sigh and practically marched to find Quinn. She didn't have to go far. Quinn was practicing her shields in the other practice room, right in front of the one Santana had been.

"Quinn, a word?" she asked, not paying much attention to the other occupants of the room.

The blonde just nodded and headed Santana's way, who led them to the deserted hallway.

"What's up, S?"

Santana smiled slightly at the old nickname, but it quickly faded.

"I want to go outside," the dark haired woman said straightforwardly. "We need guns. I don't feel safe, like, at all. So, I don't care if anyone is willing to come or not. I'm only saying this 'cause Brittany made a new rule that no one leaves the house alone and I feel obligated to share, but I'm going. I don't want any of you hurt."

"Are you crazy?" Quinn hissed. "You're not going alone, that'd be a death sentence. I'll go with you, of course I will. And I think we should tell the others and give them at least a chance to choose if they want to come with us, too."

Before Santana could say a word, Brittany came through the door, "I want in."

"Were you listening behind the door?" Santana asked, more aggressively than she'd intended to.

"No," Brittany said pointedly, "but I know what you're about to do. It was plastered on your face, Santana, and I'll not be excluded from this. Like I said before, we're a team and we have to behave like one."

"Jeez, we're about to tell the others, no need to get all worked up."

"I'm sorry, but I know how you work, Santana. You like to do things by yourself, but this time, I'm not gonna let you."

Santana just rolled her eyes and huffed, "Fine, let's go."

No one had been especially happy with the possibility of going outside but all agreed that they needed protection, and if possible, some food.

After a quick conference between the adults – there was no way in hell one of their children would tag along – Santana had thrown the baseball bat to the backseat of Quinn's black jeep, before helping Brittany and Quinn rummage through the garage in order to find other possible weapons.

A few minutes later, a crowbar and a medium sized axe were joining the bat in the backseat.

It was almost four in the afternoon when the three of them drove towards the gates. Santana was driving with shaky hands, Quinn in the passenger seat, swallowing the lump on her throat, and Brittany on the backseat, pulling her hair in a tight bun before grabbing the handle of the axe, silently getting ready for confrontation. Not a single word left their lips.

Santana's clammy hands were clamped around the wheel, her knuckles white from the force of her grip. She was scared. Scratch that, she was fucking terrified. The gates were opening and her already shaky hands seemed to shake even more. They were going outside practically blindfolded. Santana was becoming surer and surer at every second that passed that this was all a mistake. A horde of zombies could jump them as soon as the gates opened. Even worse, they could enter the gates before they closed and go for the house, in their children direction. Santana was regretting her decision and she could tell she was not the only one.

For the corner of her eye, Santana could see Quinn fidgeting lightly in her seat and the tight grasp she had in the door handle. Brittany seemed to be strangely calm, only the clench of her jaw gave her away.

When the gates were apart enough for the jeep to pass, they let out a subtle but collective sigh of relief. Nothing was coming their way. In fact, not a single thing seemed to be moving, just the gentle sway of the plants incited by the light summer breeze. That calmness though, did nothing to sooth Santana's nerves. Don't get her wrong, she definitely did not want to have to deal with the repulsive creatures that she knew were out there, somewhere. It was that very fact that made her incredibly uneasy. Santana didn't know where they were. The zombies were lurking somewhere, waiting for the trio to make its unaware way to them. And if there's one thing that Santana hates, is feeling lost and powerless.

Even with that thought in mind, she figured they didn't have any other option – unless die of hunger or an attack – so Santana put the first gear and pressed the accelerator pedal lightly, pulling off Quinn's driveway as silently as she possibly could.


	10. Chapter 10

Santana had never driven so slowly in her entire life. They must have been going at 15 miles/hour. She didn't want to make loud noises and alert the little creepers. Neither Brittany nor Quinn seemed to have a problem with that, though. They were still silent and were already about a third away from the house. Just as they had stipulated, they were heading to a gun store a few blocks away from McKinley High School.

The roads were deserted. Well, besides the amount of abandoned cars crowding them. Some of them even had the doors open, like its previous owner left in a hurry. This made Santana's driving more difficult, having to wander between the cars, drive around them, and sometimes, get off the road and even drive on sidewalks.

The stationary vehicles were almost mocking Santana. The fact that they were there, empty, abandoned, seemed to slap her in the face with the reality that its drivers and passengers must be close by. The more cars they passed, more Santana's fear and anxiety rose. If the cars were there, where were its occupants?

Brittany must've been thinking the same thing.

"Why do you think there's no one out here?" The taller blonde asked, her eyes gazing around.

"Honestly, I don't know," Quinn replied, also looking out the window. "I was expecting an attack a long time ago."

"Me, too," Brittany nodded. "I think it's because the sun is still booming."

Santana looked through the rearview mirror, meeting Brittany's certain gaze. It was a pretty plausible theory. She had no idea how zombies worked, but it did made sense that semi-dead people didn't like the sun. So Santana made a mental note to be back at the house before the sunset. Well, she had already made that note, but with this new possibility, it was only reinforced. However, at the pace they were going, it was becoming a tight schedule. It had taken them half an hour to make a ten minute drive and they were only about halfway to the gun store.

"I think Brittany might be right," Santana said, pressing her foot on the pedal, making them drive a little bit faster. The motionless cars on the road didn't allow her to drive that much faster though. Now that she thought about it, if they had to run away, all those cars would definitely be a problem.

Fifteen minutes later, they were pulling right in front the gun store. Brittany handed the baseball bat to Santana, the crowbar to Quinn, along with a duffle bag to each of them to store the guns, and gripped the axe firmer in her right hand. All of them reached for the door handle with impossibly shaky hands. But they were already here, it didn't made sense to come this far just to chicken out at the last minute.

"Whatever you do, don't let go of your weapon," Santana said before walking cautiously towards the store.

Brittany half watched Santana as she reached for the door handle of the store, half watched over her shoulder, just making sure nothing launched their way. Quinn was unhealthily pale but followed Santana, who took another step towards the inside of the store.

Just as Santana crossed the doorway, three successive and loud beeps filled their ears. It was one of those annoying bells that beeped whenever a costumer entered or exited the store. In normal circumstances it would be perfectly acceptable – even if utterly irritating – but they were not under normal circumstances. In their situation, the bell sounded like a damn ambulance siren screeching in their ears.

"Fuck!" Santana cursed through gritted teeth, watching the inside of the store with panicked eyes and raising her bat, ready to strike.

Quinn prepared to step inside when Brittany stopped her with a hand on the shoulder. Wrong move. Quinn shrieked and turned around, swinging the crowbar with all her might. Brittany just felt a lancinating pain in her left upper arm and shoulder blade, before her knees hit the floor.

"Fuck! Brittany!" Quinn rushed to the blonde on the floor that was clutching her arm and had her teeth gritted. "I'm so sorry, Brittany!"

Quinn was in the verge of tears. This was the last thing they needed.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked, trying to see the damage she caused. "Oh my god, I'm sorry. I thought it was a zombie and I… Fuck… I'm so sorry…"

"It's okay, Q," Brittany managed through deep breaths. "It was my fault. I was dumb and shouldn't have grabbed you without warning first."

"Brittany, I hit you with a freaking crowbar. I can see blood," Quinn argued because, yeah, Brittany was in fact bleeding. "It's definitely not okay."

Brittany was rising to her feet and palming her shoulder blade when Santana's hushed voice sounded from inside the store.

"What the fuck are you two doing? Oh, and by the way, thanks for the precious backup. I don't know what I would've done without you if there had been a bunch of zombies back there. Thanks a…" She stopped her sarcastic rant when she noticed Brittany's bloodied hand and pained expression. "The fuck happened? Why's Brittany bleeding?"

She made a step towards the door, but Brittany raised her right hand, motioning her to stop. If Santana stepped outside the store, the damn bell would ring, and they certainly didn't need the extra noise.

"Come on, together," Brittany said to Quinn, who just nodded, understanding Brittany's intention. If they got in together, the bell would only beep once, and it was already too much noise. It was almost deafening in the utter silence of the streets. Brittany struggled a little to walk straight. Her knees hurt from hitting the floor, but nothing compared to the pain shooting from her upper arm and shoulder blade. Especially her shoulder blade. It really freaking hurt.

"What the hell happened?" Santana rushed to Brittany's side the moment they stepped inside. When Brittany didn't respond, she turned to Quinn, only to find her with an incredibly guilty expression on her face.

"What did you do Fabray?" Santana almost roared.

Quinn just gulped, a new wave of fresh tears filling her eyes.

"It doesn't matter, it wasn't her fault," Brittany interrupted before things got too heated. They had more serious things to do. "We don't have time for this. Hurry up!"

With that she opened her duffle bag and went to the shelves, rapidly shoving guns into it. Santana huffed, and with a final glare in Quinn's direction, she made her way towards a door behind the balcony that gave access to the storage room, grabbing a box of bullets from behind the counter on her way.

"Collect as much ammo as you can," Santana said coldly over her shoulder as she passed Quinn, who still stood there, feeling completely guilty.

So Quinn did. She started to clear up the shelves behind the counter and the drawers of the balcony, which were also filled with ammunitions.

The first thing Santana did when she entered the storage room was to get a gun. She grabbed a handgun and loaded it with the bullets she'd retrieved from the shelf. It wasn't the right gun for her, it was too heavy and her fingers didn't fit perfectly on the handle, but for now, it had to do. Later, if they got away safe and sound, she would have time to pick a better one at Quinn's house.

She had her bag almost full when Brittany and Quinn came through the door, carrying extra bags from the shop, just in case.

"I think two duffle bags full of guns are enough," Santana chuckled quietly. "But fuck it, fill them. You'll never know when –"

_Beep, beep, beep._

Santana stopped mid-sentence and she swore her heart stopped, too.

_Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no… This cannot be happening._ Santana thought as she looked at the panicked faces gazing right back at her. She still thought, even for a brief second, that it could be anything. A dog, a survivor just like them, hell, even the wind, but all that possibilities sunk when she heard a grunt. A sickening and bone chilling grunt.

She passed the two blondes with the intent of locking the door, but froze when she looked down at the knob and didn't find a lock. The door didn't have a fucking lock. What kind of shitty place didn't have a fucking lock in the fucking storage door?

"Grab something," Santana whispered as softly as she could to the other women, who obeyed without batting an eye, pulling the axe and crowbar they'd stored in their belts. It was better if they'd also had guns, but there was no time. Besides, Santana was sure neither blonde had ever fired a gun and that could end up terribly wrong.

Santana clutched the gun in her left hand, ready to shoot, and slowly opened a crack on the storage door with her right hand. She peaked through it and felt her stomach turn instantly. Wandering around the store was a zombie. In times it had been a man, but now, just a rotten human body with bluish flawed skin, eyes almost white, clouded, as if its owner was blind, and nose sniffling the air, definitely searching for his next meal.

Deciding that she wouldn't let the zombie enter the storage room, Santana opened the door completely and aimed her gun at the creature's head. She was not going to die cornered by a fucking rotting monster.

The sound of a gunshot ripped the air and the zombie fell to the floor with a bullet hole between his eyes. Santana vaguely registered Brittany and Quinn letting out surprised shrieks from the gunshot noise, but she had more important things to worry about. Just as the zombie hit the floor, another three were crossing the doorway, making the annoying bell beep once again. The zombies spotted her immediately. She was in their direct line of sight, after all. They were already half way inside the store, eager to get a piece of her warm and very much alive flesh, when she raised her gun again, hands trembling more than a minute ago.

She fired three shots but only two of them were accurate.

She missed. She fucking missed.

The third zombie only had its right ear shredded by the bullet and was now fifteen feet away from her, but Santana couldn't move her legs, or arms for that matter. Her body seemed to have shut down. Maybe it was the detailed view of the zombie in front of her – fingers and ear missing, chunks of face ripped out, and yellow uneven teeth, maybe it was the damn bell beeping again, signaling the entrance of four more zombies, grunting and running over each other.

Santana was still petrified by fear, and the zombies continued to drag themselves towards her. The closest zombie – the one she'd ripped the ear off – was almost at arm reach, and she couldn't move. This was going to be the end of Santana fucking Lopez.

She barely had time to register a flash of blonde past beside her, when the zombie was hit with an axe right in the eye. It definitely wasn't a pretty sight. Blood pouring out of the zombie's skull, neck snapping backwards with a horrible crack from the force of impact, the disgusting groan that filled the room... All of that was enough to make Santana snap out of her trance. And just in time. Brittany was desperately trying to pull the axe from the zombie's head because another one was almost reaching her, but she seemed to be in trouble. And it was in the second that the zombie reached for Brittany's arm that everything seemed to happen at the same time.

Santana fired in the monster's direction, aiming a little upwards from Brittany's shoulder, yet the bullet never reached its destination. It hit something on the way, falling uselessly on the floor. Brittany swung her axe at the zombie's head but it also collided with an invisible barrier. It could only be Quinn's doing. The later had tried to protect Brittany from the attack at the same time Santana had fired her gun and Brittany swayed her axe. This made Quinn cry out in pain and sunk to the floor next to Santana, her protective shield crushed by the strong impact of both the bullet and the axe. All this while the bell beeped again.

_Great, more to join the party_, Santana thought as pressed the trigger again, successfully hitting the closest zombie on the head.

Quinn rapidly rose to her feet again and both Brittany and Quinn were launching forward, fighting back to back, hitting every head they found in their way. Santana kept shooting, rarely missing her target. Her aim was something she was highly proud of. Even though the zombies were falling to the floor with every gunshot, they were too many. They kept coming their way, closing the space between them. Santana gazed at the two blondes rapidly and saw them backed against a side door she remembered checking but hadn't deserved her further attention. It was only an empty restroom.

"Quinn, Brittany! Enter the door!" Santana yelled between shots. "Make a shield around you, enter the door, and don't come out until I say so!"

"I'm not going to leave you here alone!" Quinn screamed back.

"I have a gun, just do as I say!" She screamed so angrily that both women obeyed, even if reluctantly.

Now with her friends somewhere safer, she could fire freely without the fear of injuring one of them. She just kept shooting, bringing down as much as she could, even though the fucking bell kept on beeping. It was unnerving to say the least, so Santana aimed her gun, and with a single shot, she silenced the damn thing. She made a quick count of the moving bodies in the room. There were eight heading her way and three clawing at the restroom door. The only positive aspect was that it didn't seem to be more of them. For now, at least.

She quickly fired seven clean shots, each of them hitting a head. It was a fucking mess. Blood and putrid bodies everywhere on the floor, but she patted herself on the back. It was still pretty impressive, if she could say so herself.

When the last zombie walking in her direction tripped clumsily in a mate's body, Santana let out a sarcastic chuckle. _How dumb_. And so she took this perfect opportunity to fire three accurate shots to the zombies scratching the door Quinn and Brittany were behind. She smirked again to herself. Yeah, she was good. But soon the smirk was whipped off her face. The clumsy zombie was back on his feet and much closer than she'd expected.

Santana took two quick steps backwards and raised her gun. When she pressed the trigger though, nothing happened. Just the empty click of the gun. She pressed it again and again but nothing. She was out of bullets. Just one more to take down and she was out of bullets. Why did she have to shoot the damn bell? The zombie was closer than ever and she was unprotected. Unprotected in a fucking gun store, how ironic.

She took one more quick step back and her back hit the counter, making her lose her balance and sink to the floor. She gazed urgently around in order to spot the duffle bags but found none. They were left back in the storage room. What she did found was that she was cornered against the shelves and counter, the monster towering over her, and it made her heart beat wildly in her rib cage so fast it hurt.

She could already feel the intensified smell of putrefied flesh exhaling from the zombie's parted lips filling her nostrils. It made bile rise to her throat instantly. It was a thousand times stronger up close and Santana wished she'd never have to smell it again. Considering her current situation, her wish might become true in a matter of seconds.

Well, it seemed that Santana fucking Lopez was going to die cornered by a fucking rotting monster after all.

Her spine pressed impossibly harder against the counter but she was already glued to the cold glassed showcase. This was it. Santana closed her eyes as she felt an ice cold hand wrap powerfully around her upper arm. She wriggled and kicked but the zombie didn't seem fazed at all. The grasp around her arm only intensified. There was nothing she could do. This was the end. She only hoped Quinn and Brittany would made it out of there safely. Brittany… Now she regretted not kissing Brittany the moment she saw her standing on Quinn's front porch, as beautiful and perfect as she'd been twenty years ago. Now she was going to die without tasting those perfect lips just one more time. God, she would do anything, absolutely anything, to kiss Brittany again. But now it was too late. She could feel the horrifying mouth hovering over her arm.

There was nothing left to do. Just wait for the irrefutable death.

However, the ending bite never came. In its place, the distressing sound of crushing bone filled the room, and the decomposing body was ripped off from Santana's. At the feel of the cold hand leaving her arm, Santana opened her eyes and gazed into blue ones.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Santana spat angrily the second she looked at the person standing before her, bloodied machete in hand and chest slightly heaving.

"You're welcome," Hailey said sarcastically.

"I'm serious! How did you even get here?" Santana was seeing red. That and stressing out. Hailey shouldn't be here. They had to get out of there right that instance. There could be more zombies passing the doorway at any minute. "Don't you know how foolish you were by coming here?"

"Yeah, guess what?" Hailey spat back, her anger also growing. "If it weren't for my foolish self, you'd be dead right now!"

Santana opened her mouth to speak, but before she could let out a word, the side door was wide open and a very confused Brittany barged out the bathroom.

"Though I heard… Hailey!" Brittany looked from Santana to her daughter, to all the dead bodies on the floor. "What are you doing here? We specifically prohibited any of you to leave the house!"

"Mom…"

Brittany's expression turned dark.

"No! Don't you have any idea of how dangerous this is? Do you think this is all a joke? That we're playing a game? That if anything happens to you, you'll get the chance to start over? This is real life! If anything happens to you, you die or you'll get infected! Is this what you want?"

"I'm sorry, Mom, I…"

"I don't even want to hear your voice right now! God, I'm so disappointed in you. Never thought you'd pull something like this on me," Brittany continued, voice cracking with anger but also sadness and disappointment.

Hailey had the decency to look ashamed, cheeks red and eyes glued to the floor.

"I don't care if we're in the damn zombie apocalypse or staying at someone else's house, you're getting the grounding of your life," the taller blonde said to her daughter before turning to the storage room to get the duffle bags. "Let's go."

The other women all followed wordlessly, a little thrown back by Brittany's authority and anger, something they'd never been familiar with back in high school. Luckily they were able to return to the car, bags in hand, without any other setback. The ride back to Quinn's house was just as slow and silent as the one before. Only instead of comfortable silence, the car was engulfed in tension. Brittany was still incredibly pissed off, sitting in the passenger seat, gazing outside the window.

Santana threw hesitant glances in Brittany's direction every once in a while. The silence was slowly driving her crazy, but the look in Brittany's face told her not to break it. They drove slowly, bypassing the abandoned cars and forty minutes later they were parking the car in Quinn's large garage.

"Go to your room, we'll talk later," Brittany said dryly without looking at her daughter.

Hailey glued her eyes to the floor and practically dragged herself up the stairs, completely devastated.

"Come on, let's get Tina to check out your arm, Britt," Quinn said hesitantly, trying to lift the tension. Brittany just nodded before trailing up the stairs, quickly followed by Santana and Quinn.

"How did it go? Why are you all bloodied?" Tina asked urgently the moment they crossed the kitchen's doorway.

"Bloodied? What happened?" Rachel rushed to their side.

"Nothing special, we're fine," Brittany tried to shrug but grimaced when pain shoot through her back. She was having trouble moving her shoulder blade now that the adrenaline rush was coming down.

"We're fine," Santana said, pointing to herself and Quinn, before pointing in Brittany's direction. "She's not."

"Were you attacked?" Tina asked while moving to examine Brittany's shoulder and arm.

"Yeah, at the gun store," Quinn replied with a disgusted look adoring her face. "They came in while we're packing the guns."

"How many? God, you should've never gone alone," Tina looked remorsefully at the three women. "Brittany, I need you to lie down."

"Let's go to my room," the blonde said dryly.

"I'll be there in a minute, just need to grab my first aid kit."

Brittany entered her room and carefully flopped on the bed. Tiredness was starting to take over her entire body. Her muscles, her head, even her bones seemed to ache.

There was a knock on the door and Tina made her way to the bed carrying a bag.

"This doesn't look good," the doctor commented upon taking a closer look at the wound. "Can you take your shirt off?"

Brittany sat up and grabbed the hem of the shirt but groaned in pain when she lifted her arms.

"I can't take it off," Brittany almost whispered, feeling a little frustrated. She wasn't one to be dependent on someone.

"Do you want help?" Tina asked gently, seeing the light shade of pink that adorned Brittany's cheeks. The blonde just nodded her head silently. Tina grabbed the hem and went to pull the shirt off but it didn't pass mid torso. Brittany was clenching her teeth and a light sheen of sweat was covering her forehead with her efforts to lift her arm.

"Britt, let's not force it, we'll find another way."

The blonde tried to pull the shirt over her head again, but she was starting to get dizzy from the pain so she had no other choice but give in.

"Fine, cut it off," Brittany sighed, motioning to the scissors peeking out of Tina's bag. "It's already ruined anyway."

In a second Brittany's bloodied shirt was lying in shreds on the bed.

"Now your bra," Tina motioned for Brittany to turn around but the blonde was a little hesitant. "Oh, come on Brittany. I'm a doctor, I've seen boobs in every shape, size, and color."

Brittany let out a small chuckle and lay back down on her stomach as Tina unhooked the bra.

"This does not look good, how did this happen?" Tina asked looking at the wound surrounded by dry blood.

"Quinn hit me with a crowbar –"

"_What?_"

"It was an accident, I approached her from behind and she just defended herself. If anything it was my fault. We're all in high alert and freaking out; I'd probably have done the same."

Tina just shook her head and retrieved some cotton balls that she soaked with disinfectant. She started to clean Brittany's shoulder blade and the blonde hissed lowly when the solution made her already abused skin burn.

"Your skin ripped but, luckily, it isn't very deep," Tina stated as she worked. "It was a strong hit, though. It's pretty swollen."

"Yeah, Quinn still has what it takes," Brittany chuckled.

"I'm going to bandage the wound, and wrap gauze around your shoulder to immobilize it. It's not broken and I don't think it's dislocated either, but just to be on the safe side, you shouldn't move it for a few days."

"A few days?" Brittany raised her eyebrow skeptically.

"A couple of weeks, maybe more. And you need to ice it as well," Tina said and chuckled lightly when Brittany let out a groan half of frustration half of pain. "Hang on, Pierce."

Tina was gently lifting her arm to warp the gauze around her shoulder and across her chest. It hurt like a bitch, and with all the moving, it was only intensifying.

"There, all done." Tina got up and retrieved an oversized t-shirt from one of the drawers and helped Brittany to put it on. Next she popped two painkillers on her hand and handed them to the blonde along with a bottle of water that was on the nightstand. "Here, take this."

Brittany took the pills leisurely, her movements slowed by the exhaustion she was feeling. Her eyelids were heavy and a nap sounded heavenly.

"Get some sleep, Britt," Tina stated and made her way to the door. "I'll get you an ice pack."

"Thanks, Tina," Brittany slurred, eyelids already dropping before diving into darkness.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading and let me know what you think :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Here is another chapter, hope you like it :)**

* * *

Santana made her way up the stairs to Hailey's room, holding a tray of food. Tina had come down to the kitchen and told them she'd done what she could with Brittany's shoulder blade and that the blonde had fallen asleep. Since Brittany took the painkillers she'd be sleeping for a while, so Santana decided to see how Hailey was doing. The kid had saved her life after all.

"Hey, it's Santana, can I come in?" Santana asked, knocking at the door.

Hailey made an imperceptible sound that Santana took as a yes. Pushing the door with her shoulder, the older woman made her way into the room and putt down the tray on the nightstand.

"You okay?" Santana asked, sitting next to Hailey on the bed.

It was obvious that Hailey wasn't okay. The girl was lying on the bed with her knees pulled to her chest, the tear tracks still visible on her pale cheeks. Her only response to Santana was a quick shrug of shoulders.

"I brought you some food since you didn't go down for dinner," Santana tried again gently.

"I didn't think I was allowed," Hailey replied distantly.

"Of course you were, Brittany may be sad but she wouldn't want you to starve."

"I really screwed up," Hailey sat up, resting her back against the headboard. She didn't know why she was opening up to Santana. There was something about the older woman that made her at ease. Something that made her trust her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause trouble. I just wanted to help, but now Mom is so disappointed in me."

Santana felt compassion for the girl; she really did look miserable and remorseful.

"I'm incredibly grateful that you sneaked into that car, but I can see why your mom is so mad. I would too if Elle had been the one to do something like this. How did you do it, by the way?"

"Do what?" Hailey shot her a confused look.

"Sneak in. How did you get in the car without being seen?"

"Oh, I just said I was going to the bathroom and teleported myself to the garage," The teen shrugged. "You were all distracted, looking for something, so it was easy to get into the trunk without being spotted."

"Sly," Santana let out a chuckle. "But how did you know we're going out?"

"I saw my mom's face when she went after you and I knew something was up. So I followed her and overheard you talking in the hallway," Hailey admitted, her cheeks flushing with the revelation.

"I know you had good intentions, but it was incredibly reckless of you to tag along. This is dangerous, very dangerous."

"I'm aware. I just think I'd be more useful out there than stuck in here, wondering if my mom, or any of you, is okay. And I know I'm not the only one who thinks like this. I don't like to feel powerless. We've got these gifts and I think we should use them to our advantage."

"I understand where you're coming from, but it's just too dangerous, powers or not."

"But you're going." Hailey frowned slightly. Couldn't they see they're not little kids anymore?

"We only went outside because we needed to protect ourselves, and food, eventually."

"And I could get us stuff like that in the blink of an eye!" The younger girl was getting exasperated.

"Oh, yeah? How?" Santana challenged with an amused smirk.

"Yeah," Hailey simply stated before closing her eyes in concentration and disappearing in front of Santana's eyes.

"Hailey!" Santana exclaimed before letting out a tired sigh, "Crap."

But not five seconds later, Hailey was appearing in the room again – scaring the crap out of Santana, if she might say so – carrying a machete like the one she'd used back at the gun store.

"Where did you go? How did you get that?" Santana asked, her hand still clutching her chest from the sudden appearance.

"Got it from the gun store's wall."

"You went back there?" Santana asked with wide eyes.

"Yes, and it didn't take more than 10 seconds," the teen smirked, obviously pleased with the reaction she'd got from Santana. "See, there was a reason from me to want to go there. I wasn't even going to get out of the car in the first place. I can only teleport to places I've already been and a gun store seemed like a useful place to know. That way, if it's anything missing, I can always get it easily."

Santana pondered the words that left Hailey's mouth. Yes, it was, in fact, a great thing for them. If only one of the adults had got that power everything would be so much easier. Even if Hailey only took a few minutes out there, it was still dangerous.

"I know I can't carry a great amount of things yet, but I'm working on it," Hailey continued her explanation when Santana didn't respond. "I can get us groceries and stuff. I already went to the grocery store so I can teleport there and…"

"I think it's very useful," Santana started and saw Hailey's smile grow. "But," and there went the smile, "I still think it's too dangerous. It's not us treating you like babies. It's just us trying to protect you. Can you imagine if anything happened to any of you?"

"But we could help," Hailey insisted weakly, knowing that Santana wouldn't back down.

"Yeah, but not now," Santana said, pressing a comforting hand on the girl's arm. "You can only teleport alone and carry small stuff. It's not worth the risk. Besides, we don't go out there by ourselves, that's your mom's rule," Santana chuckled lightly, remembering Brittany's previous words, "so that's out of the question. Maybe one day, if you're good and stay out of trouble."

"Speaking of Mom, how's she?" Hailey asked in a small voice.

"She was sleeping when I came here. Tina bandaged her shoulder and gave her painkillers so she's out."

"She's hurt? What happened? I thought the blood was from the zombies."

"Quinn was stupid and hit your mom with the crowbar," Santana said through slightly gritted teeth. She was still incredibly mad at Quinn.

"Do you think she'll forgive me?" Hailey gazed sadly into Santana's eyes.

"Of course she will," the older woman reassured with a warm smile. "If I know your mother, she'll forgive you in no time. It's not like Britt to stay mad at someone for long."

"Were you close friends? You talk like you knew her really well."

"Yeah, we were friends. Best friends, actually," Santana said with a sad smile.

"Best friends? Isn't it weird that she never mentioned you?" Hailed asked, growing more and more interested in her mother's past. She was making Santana uncomfortable, she could tell. If you were best friends with someone, you were bound to mention them sooner or later. However, she'd never heard of Santana in her entire life. Weird.

"Maybe she had her reasons," Santana replied quietly, getting up from the bed and walking towards the door. She was definitely not comfortable with the course of the conversation. "Eat up, you must be starving. I'm going to check on your mother."

After reaching the kitchen – where everybody was either hanging out or doing the dishes – Santana prepared a tray with food and offered to bring the food and the ice pack to Brittany.

She carefully peaked inside the blonde's room and saw Brittany still sleeping soundly on the bed. The sight made the corners of her mouth lift up in a smile. Brittany really was beautiful. After a minute of shameless leering, Santana made her way to the bed and put down the tray on the nightstand.

"Hey, Britt, wake up."

Santana sat beside the blonde and moved away a strand of hair that fell from the now messy bun. Brittany just scrunched up her nose in response, making Santana's smile wider.

"Brittany, you need to eat. It's past nine," she tried again, this time nudging Brittany on the good shoulder gently.

The blonde haired woman cracked an eye open and grimaced when she tried to sit up. "Ouch, it's a little sore."

"I brought you ice, but eat something first. You haven't had anything since lunch."

"Thanks," Brittany smiled shyly, taking the tray Santana was handling her.

"How are you feeling?"

"My shoulder blade still hurts a little, but the painkillers are doing wonders. Also a little sad and disappointed with Hailey."

"Listen, I know you're mad at her, but honestly, I'm glad she went."

"How can you say that? She could've died!"

"I know, but if it weren't for her, I'd either be dead or one of them right now."

"What?" Brittany's eyes locked with Santana's.

"Yeah, I was cornered and out of bullets," Santana explained, averting her eyes in shame.

"Why didn't you yell for help? Quinn and I were right there!"

"I guess I paralyzed," Santana still kept her head down. She didn't like to seem weak. Especially in front of the people she was supposed to protect. How would they trust her in the future if she froze whenever things got complicated?

"Hey, look at me," Brittany said softly, her fingers finding Santana's chin and tugging gently to encourage the brunette to look her in the eye.

Santana's hesitant eyes finally met Brittany's and she felt the air being knocked out of her lungs. The blonde was looking at her so intently that she felt almost naked. Like Brittany could see all her flaws, all her fears she'd been carrying her whole life.

"You have nothing, _nothing_ to be embarrassed about," Brittany reassured her, eyes still burning her soul. "You were amazing out there. If it weren't for you, we'd probably be dead by now. You took all those walkers by yourself, Santana. You are the bravest person I've ever known."

Upon hearing those final words, she let out a sob and the tears polling in her eyes finally fell down her cheeks.

"I'm not."

"You are, Santana."

"If I were, I'd never let you go."

* * *

_**Flashback, 2012**_

_Brittany was snuggled to Santana's side in the brunette's room watching a movie. She wasn't actually paying attention to whatever was happening on the screen, she was distractedly tracing random patterns in the smooth skin of Santana's stomach and thinking about prom. Yes, Brittany S. Pierce was dying to go to prom. The only problem was that the person she wanted to go with hadn't asked her yet. And that person was lying right next to her._

_Brittany and Santana had been dating secretly for about two years now. Santana had said she wasn't ready to come out, and Brittany respected it. She didn't mind really. Well, at least at first. Now, almost two years later, Santana seemed to have stopped trying to tell someone. Brittany wasn't even asking that much. She just wanted some people to know, like Quinn. She was their best friend, she'd be cool with it. It was getting really tiresome to have to hide and be careful all the time. They didn't even link pinkies in the school hallways anymore. She just wanted to show the world how much she loved Santana._

_But every time Brittany gently brought it up, Santana would get mad at her and preform a storm out that put Rachel Berry's to shame. It seemed that, instead of warming up to the idea of telling someone, Santana got even more guarded._

_Brittany understood that Santana's parents weren't the accepting kind and thought that two people of the same gender being in a relationship together would own them a ticket straight to hell. That was stupid, people should love whoever they want. Besides, Brittany didn't even ask Santana to tell her parents. Just Brittany's parents – since they already figured it out – or Quinn. It wasn't that difficult. But if Santana wasn't ready, she wasn't going to push her. She just wanted her to be happy, because when Santana was happy, she smiled a lot, and her smile was the best smile ever._

"_San?" Brittany started gently._

"_Yeah, Britt-Britt?"_

"_Prom is coming up, and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me." She could feel Santana tense immediately beside her._

"_Brittany, we've talked about this," Santana quickly detangled herself from Brittany._

"_Just as friends, nothing more."_

"_Britt…"_

"_People do that all the time."_

"_Not popular people like us. We're two of the most popular girls at school, it's expected of us to show up with dates."_

"_So you're willing to dance all night long with someone that isn't your girlfriend, in one of the most important nights of our lives, just because it's expected of you?" Brittany was now looking sharply at Santana, who was sitting on the hedge of the mattress with her back turned to her girlfriend._

"_You know I want to, but I can't," Santana sighed._

"_I'm not asking you to hold my hand or kiss me in front of everybody, Santana. I just want to go as friends and maybe have a dance with you," Brittany said, voice cracking at the end and tears filling up her eyes._

"_I know, Britt, and I want those things too," Santana turned to her girlfriend, tears also forming in her eyes. "It's just… people will talk if we go together."_

"_So your reputation and popularity are more important to you than me?"_

"_I didn't say that," Santana said exasperatingly._

"_Well, it sure sounded like it," Brittany spat back. "Are you that ashamed of me? Is the idea of me being your girlfriend so disgusting that you can't bring yourself to tell anyone? Is the thought of liking dumb and stupid Brittany S. Pierce that horrible that you rather keep it to yourself your whole life?"_

"_Brittany…"_

"_I would jump at the chance to shout from the highest mountain and announce the world that I'm in love with you, Santana. I just don't think you'd do the same thing for me, and it hurts more that you could imagine."_

"_Of course I'd do it, Brittany, just not now," Santana was now openly crying along with Brittany._

"_Not now," the blonde repeated with a humorless laugh. "Not now is what you always say. You've been saying it for almost two years, and guess what? I'm tired, Santana. I'm so sick and tired of how hurt I get when you let go of my hand like you've just been burnt when you think someone's coming. I'm tired of having to kiss you in the bathroom. I hate not being able to hug and comfort you in public when you're sad because you get even worse thinking someone might read something between the lines. And most of all, I'm exhausted to feel like crap and that I'm not good enough for you."_

"_Well, I'm sorry if I'm not an open person like you and things like this are difficult for me. You're being selfish! I told you I needed time!" Santana tears were gone and the anger was taking over her body. Didn't Brittany understand that she was trying the best she could? She wanted to go to prom, hold hands and kiss Brittany whenever she felt like. The thing was, her body didn't seem to cooperate with her brain. Her brain commanded her body to hold Brittany's hand, her body seemed petrified and incapable of performing such simple task._

_It was frustrating, but she couldn't do anything about it. Her subconscious was too afraid of the consequences of such acts that it didn't allow her body to act on her wishes. Santana thought she'd get there with time. That one day, she'd be able to kiss Brittany out and proudly in front of everyone._

"_And I gave you time, Santana," Brittany said in a hurt voice. "Do you want to know how I feel? I feel like your dirty little secret."_

"_Don't say that, Brittany. It's not true." Santana pleaded just as hurt._

"_Then prove it to me!" Brittany cried desperately. "Came to prom with me… please."_

_Santana looked directly in the most amazing pair of blue eyes she'd ever seen. She looked at the hope plastered in them. She wanted to go so badly, she really did. But the kids at school were mean and close minded. They'd give them a tough time. And if some rumors reached her father's ears she'd be shipped to the ends of the earth. She just couldn't bring herself to give in. Even if she hated her father ideals, he was still her daddy and she couldn't help but love him. She couldn't risk defying her father and end up homeless._

"_I can't," Santana sighed, tears filling her eyes yet again._

_She couldn't even lift her head up when Brittany got up, grabbed her jacked and headed to the door, letting out a broken "Goodbye, Santana" on her way downstairs._

"_I'm so sorry," the brunette whispered, hearing the loud bang of the front door signaling that Brittany was gone, before breaking down on the bed, stuffing her face on the pillow and screaming into it._

_She cried herself to sleep that night. That night and the one's that followed. She was barely holding herself together. Her days were a blur, she didn't talk to anyone, and worse than that, Brittany didn't look at her once since the argument in her room._

_Prom passed but Santana didn't go. Quinn told her later that Brittany hadn't show up either. Santana wanted so badly to talk to Brittany. She wrote countless texts, but never had the courage to press send. With each passing day, the wound on her heart got deeper and she didn't think it would ever heal. She loved Brittany more than anything, and because of her stupidity, she'd lost her forever. So pulling the covers up to her head and crying had become her nightly routine. She wondered how her body was able to keep producing more tears. All she seemed to do these days was lay down curled up in fetal position and cry her eyes out._

_It was the night before the ending of senior year that her crying time was interrupted by a knock on her door. Santana shot up from her bed, rapidly whipping the tears from her eyes, hoping that it was Brittany who was about to cross the door._

"_Hey."_

_A blonde poked her head at the door, but it wasn't the blonde she was hoping for. Santana let herself fall to the bed again, clearly disappointed. Quinn must have noticed the disappointment plastered on her face because she added a quiet "Sorry" before sitting on the bed._

"_How are you?" Quinn asked gently, seeing the dried tears on her friends face. Santana just shrugged._

"_What are you doing here?" Santana asked after several minutes of silence._

"_To see how you're doing."_

"_Cut the crap, Quinn," the brunette stated coldly, knowing very well that Quinn had a specific reason to be in her room._

_Quinn let out a deep sigh, "Fine, I came here to tell you that Brittany's leaving."_

"_What?" Santana sat up on the bed so quickly that she almost collided with Quinn. "When?"_

"_Tomorrow, first thing in the morning," the blonde gulped, seeing her friends panicked look. "Thought you might want to say goodbye."_

"_Oh my god," Santana ran her hands through her messy hair, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"_

"_I didn't know until a few minutes ago. She stopped by my house to say goodbye."_

"_Where is she going?" Santana asked the blonde urgently. "Quinn, where is she going?" She asked more aggressively when Quinn avoided her gaze._

"_California," the blonde muttered almost inaudibly._

"_California? Are you kidding me right now?"_

"_She said something about a summer program at UCLA."_

"_She got into UCLA?" Santana was a mix of hurt and proud. She was proud for obvious reasons. Brittany had worked hard and earned a spot at UCLA, but it really hurt that Brittany hadn't even told her she had applied to college. Santana herself had applied to some colleges but was waiting for Brittany to decide what she wanted to do. After that, Santana's idea was to choose the college that worked best for them. But now they weren't even on speaking terms. Of course Brittany wouldn't want to tell Santana her plans and even less that she was part of them._

"_Yeah, early admissions or something, she was in a rush."_

_Tears were rapidly forming in Santana eyes and she hated herself for crying in front of Quinn. She was Santana Lopez, she didn't cry. Even less in front of others._

"_Go after her, San," Quinn encouraged tentatively. "I don't know what happened between you two, but I'm sure it can be fixed."_

"_It's not that simple, Q. I really blew it this time." Santana was trying with all her might to stop the tears from falling._

"_Look, it's obvious that is something going on between you two, it'd be a shame if you ended it this way." Santana just stared at her friend with a dumbfound look on her face. "Don't look at me like that. It's obvious that you two like each other. You have been miserable these past weeks."_

"_You're not weirded out?" Santana asked tentatively._

"_Why would I? You two are my best friends. I just want you to be happy and I can see you're not."_

"_Yeah, but it's too late now. She was really hurt with me." Tears pooled again in her eyes. "She deserves someone that can give her what she needs, and right now, I'm not that person."_

"_I think you should talk to her, but it's your call, San," Quinn squeezed her leg supportively before getting up. "I have to go. Promised my mom I'd watch a movie with her."_

_Quinn leaned down and pressed a kiss to Santana's temple. "Think about it, San. Love you."_

"_Thanks, Quinn. Love you too."_

_After Quinn left, Santana laid on her back, gazing at the ceiling of her room. Brittany was leaving. Brittany was going to be on the other side of the country, countless hours away from her. She felt like crying again._

_It was all her fault. If she'd been brave enough to admit her feelings for Brittany to someone they could be packing their bags together, living together, who knows. None of it mattered since she was a coward. And now Quinn knew, and honestly, it wasn't the end of the world. Santana actually felt really good about someone besides her and Brittany knowing about them. It was liberating._

_That's it! Maybe if she told Brittany that Quinn knew about them, she would take her back. Yeah, she hadn't exactly told Quinn, she just figured it out, but it was something, right? The truth was, she didn't think she'd be able to live without Brittany. These past weeks had been a living hell. She couldn't remember the last time she smiled. Well, at least a genuine one._

_Making up her mind, she got up and grabbed a jacket. It was just a little past ten, Brittany would still be up. She had to at least try and mend things. It was a short walk to Brittany's. She was rounding the corner to Brittany's block, when she saw the blonde's front door open and two figures steping out to the front porch. It was dark, but she could distinguish the silhouettes. One of them was definitely Brittany's and the other had to belong to Artie. Who else had a wheelchair around the neighborhood? Also, what the hell was Wheels doing at Brittany's house at this late hour?_

_They were talking on the porch and Santana was itching to know what was being said between them. She took some quiet steps closer until she was able to see without being seen. Yes, she was hiding behind a rather large tree, like a creep. She could see that Brittany was crying and that Artie moved quickly to comfort her. She threw her arms around his neck and sat on his lap. He brought his hands up and rubbed soothing circles on Brittany's back._

_Santana was fuming. Here she was, ready to swallow her pride and admit that she'd been a dick, to beg for forgiveness if she had to, and Brittany was already replacing her with Wheels of all people. She couldn't make out what was being said between them but she was certain that she read something along the lines of "I'll miss you" from Brittany's lips. Then Artie had pulled away and pressed his lips to her cheek, almost grazing the corner of the blonde's mouth._

_She certainly wasn't ready for the sharp pang she felt on her chest. Tears filled her eyes and this time she let them fall freely. She couldn't stay here another minute. She turned away and ran home, directly to her room, flopping herself on the bed and letting the tears wet the pillow until sleep finally took over her body. Next morning she woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She groaned and closed her eyes again when the powerful light of the screen hit her tired eyes._

_**Quinn:**__ Hey, how are you? Did you talk to her?_

_A fresh wave of tears filled her eyes at the memory of last night. _Thanks, Quinn_._

_**Santana**__: No, and don't wanna talk about it._

_**Quinn**__: Why? What happened?_

_She didn't reply to the text. In fact she didn't talk or opened the door to anyone for the entire period of summer vocation. Quinn came by often, but was rejected so many times that she stopped trying._

_So when the time came, Santana chose the college furthest away from Brittany, which happened to be NYU, and never looked back._

* * *

"Santana…"

"I'm sorry, Brittany, I shouldn't have said that," Santana said, getting up from the bed and walking towards the door.

"Santana, wait! It's okay," Brittany motioned for her to sit back down.

"I shouldn't have brought it up, it's in the past."

"It's unresolved business, we were bound to talk about it at some point. Especially now that we're stuck here," Brittany shrugged her shoulders.

"Like I said, it's in the past, we don't have to talk about it," Santana continued awkwardly. She didn't want to have this conversation now. She hadn't had time to prepare herself mentally. What would she say? She was sorry she was a coward? That she'd do anything to go back in time and do everything differently? That she still loved Brittany? No, she was not ready to be rejected again.

"Yes, we do. I _want_ to talk about it," Brittany said, her eyes piercing through Santana's.

"I don't know what to say," Santana averted her eyes after several moments of just looking at each other.

"I'm sorry I pressured you to come out," Brittany said suddenly. "Everyone has the right to do things at their own pace."

"You don't have to apologize. It must have been really difficult for you to hide your feelings. You were always so open about everything. Never cared about what other people thought of you. I just wished that, back then, I'd seen that being popular was nothing compared to being with the one you love."

"You were scared, Santana, it's perfectly understandable."

"And that cost me you. It was my fault that everything fell apart," Santana was feeling the familiar tears starting to pool in her eyes.

"It's not your fault. In my point of view, we're both to blame."

"If only I'd had the guts to tell someone… did you know that Quinn told me that she knew about us back then? And after all, I didn't felt any different," Santana finished with a sad smile.

"Quinn knew? Why didn't you tell me?"

"She only told me she knew the night before you left for California."

"Oh," Brittany said quietly, lowering her gaze. "I was hoping you'd somehow know that I was leaving and come say goodbye that night."

"I did, actually," Santana was fidgeting with her hands nervously. Technically, she had no reason to be nervous. Brittany was the one with Artie on the porch.

"You did?" Brittany asked, her eyes locking with Santana's again.

"Yeah, I just never got to rang the bell."

"Why?"

"I saw you with Artie on the porch. You were crying and then you hugged and… it seemed like you didn't need me, so I tuned back around and went home."

"Wait, you thought that something was going on between us?"

"It certainly looked like. That kiss was anything but friendly," Santana said softly, eyes fixed on the wall beside her.

"Oh, Santana, I wish you'd stayed just one more minute. I remember him pushing it and giving me a kiss on the corner of my mouth, but I pushed him away. We'd become real good friends after we… you know. I was sad and he offered me a shoulder to cry on," Brittany continued and Santana just gulped. She wasn't liking where the conversation was going at all.

"I only told him and Quinn that I was leaving, so the night before I left, he went to my house to say goodbye." Brittany hesitated before continuing, but since they were putting it out there, why not? "I was crying about you, you know. It was killing me to leave without saying anything to you. But it'd been so long since we'd last spoken that I didn't have courage to make the first move. I didn't know if you still wanted to talk to me, if you still liked me after all the mess."

"Oh, Britt, of course I liked you. I never stopped liking you," Santana finally met Brittany's eyes again. They were shiny with unshed tears, just like hers. "I just saw you with Wheels and thought…"

"He was only my friend, nothing more. And I can't believe that his greedy kiss cost our possible reconciliation," Brittany shook her head, letting out a sad laugh.

"Yeah, well, it was a long time ago," Santana sighed before pointing to the tray of food. "You should put some ice on your shoulder blade and rest."

"Santana?" Brittany called shyly when the brunette got up to leave.

"Yes?"

"Can you stay with me?" Santana looked at the blonde sitting on the bed, looking at her bashfully and with a light shade of pink covering her cheeks. "I can't really reach my back and I don't think I can fall asleep after everything we saw today."

"Of course," Santana conceded with a sweet smile, making her way to the bed.

After putting the tray in the nightstand, Santana took her boots off and made her way under the covers with Brittany, who was now resting on her stomach. The brunette turned to her side, and placed the pack of ice carefully on Brittany's shoulder, making the blonde hiss.

"You okay?" Santana asked softly.

"Yeah, it's just really cold," Brittany giggled.

They stayed like that for what felt hours. Brittany on her stomach and Santana on her side, faces turned to each other. They didn't talk, and in Brittany's case, she didn't even open her eyes. She was visibly spent and the meds were still working pretty strongly. So Santana lied on the bed, gazing into Brittany's peaceful face for so long that she was sure the blonde had fallen asleep until her own eyes start to close on their own accord.

Santana forced herself to open her eyes and take a lazy look at the pack of ice on Brittany shoulder. It was now completely melted so she threw it to the floor somewhere and laid her head on the pillow, unconsciously snuggling closer to Brittany, absorbing her comforting warmth.

"Thank you for staying with me," Brittany slowly dragged out. "You didn't have to."

"I wanted to, Britt. Get some sleep, it'll do you good," Santana said just as tired, but with a content smile appearing on her lips.

"'Kay."


	12. Chapter 12

Santana opened her eyes and pulled back so suddenly that she almost fell out the bed, nearly waking Brittany up in the process. When she had opened her eyes, her face was mere inches away from Brittany's, and her arm draped around the blonde's waist. She hadn't meant to. Especially after the conversation they'd had before falling asleep. But she guessed she couldn't control her body when she slept. Plus, Santana didn't sleep this well since… well, since the end of high school.

Nevertheless, as she sat with her back against the headboard, Santana couldn't stop wondering about what Brittany would think if she woke up to her ex-girlfriend clinging to her side. That might have been an awkward situation. Would she get mad? Would she even care at all? The truth was, Brittany had been pretty sad and regretful when Santana had told her that she went to her house that night. And Santana couldn't help but smile at that, because it meant that maybe, just maybe, Brittany still had some lingering feeling for Santana buried deep inside. With one last glance at the sleeping blonde beside her, Santana decided to head downstairs and bring Brittany some breakfast.

"Morning, San," Quinn greeted with a smirk as soon as Santana crossed the kitchen's doorway. Quinn, Abby and Aaron were the only ones in the room.

"Morning," the brunette mumbled before sitting heavily on the chairs next to Abby, who was happily munching on some mashed stuff that looked absolutely horrifying. Next to her was Aaron sitting on the highchair, eyes semi closed and a little bit of drool on the corner of his mouth.

"Rough night?" Quinn asked, continuing to make a bottle for Aaron without turning around. "One would never guess, since you were sleeping so heavily that you didn't even hear me come into the room."

"You were in Brittany's room last night?" Santana drifted her attention away from Abby, who'd finished her yucky mash and was now playing with strands of the brunette's hair.

"Yes, I was the one who hit her. The least I could do was to check on her. She seemed fine, though. Both of you, actually. It was cute."

Santana couldn't see Quinn's face, but she knew that a stupid smirk was plastered on her face.

"Shut up."

"You seem to be getting along fine."

"Why wouldn't we?"

"Oh, I don't know, because you have history together?"

"Yeah, history. As the name implies, it's in the past. We're friends."

"Just friends?" Quinn asked, wiggling her brows like a perverted teen.

"Obviously."

"Oh please," Quinn started, making her way to Aaron with the bottle in hand. "I see the way you look at her, Santana."

Santana felt her cheeks heat up, "I don't know what you're talking about. And I'll do that," she said, picking up Aaron from his chair and snuggling him in her arms.

"Sure you don't," Quinn teased and handed the bottle over. "Here."

Santana watched adoringly as the baby sucked lazily on the rubber tip. He really was the cutest thing ever. He had his eyes closed, chubby cheeks moving slightly, and his tiny hand upon Santana's on the bottle.

"I'm going to give Abby a bath. Will you be fine?" Quinn asked, already picking the little girl up.

"Sure," Santana replied absently, too immersed on the sight before her.

"Alright, see you later."

It only took a few more minutes for Aaron to finish, so Santana sat him again on the high chair and started to prepare something for Brittany to eat.

"What do you think she'll like?" She found herself asking the baby. "Eggs?" The baby contorted his nose.

"No? Hm, how about pancakes?" She asked again in a silly voice that made the baby let out an adorable giggle, bouncing back and forth on the chair, making Santana smile so wide that her cheeks hurt. "Pancakes it is!"

As she worked, she found herself singing and dancing, accompanied by Aaron's coos in the background. She stacked the pancakes on a plate, filled a glass with orange juice, and put them on a tray.

"Come on, little man. Let's go see mommy," Santana picked up the baby, who clung tightly to her neck, then the tray full of food, and made her way up the stairs once again.

"Do you think she's awake?" She asked the boy as she turned the knob of Brittany's room. The blonde was still fast asleep, her back rising and falling rhythmically with each intake of air. Aaron stretched his arms and leaned forward as soon as his blue eyes landed on his mom.

"Hold on, kid. Let me just put down the tray, then you can wake her up," Santana laughed lightly at his eagerness and put the tray down on the nightstand. She hadn't noticed before, but someone had definitely been in the room. There would've been another tray on the same nightstand since neither she nor Brittany had taken it down to the kitchen yesterday.

Santana settled Aaron down on the bed, and the little boy crawled as fast as he could in direction of Brittany's face. She watched him poke his mom's face lightly and Brittany scrunching her nose slightly. He looked from her mother to Santana, as if asking why Brittany wasn't responding. Santana just smiled at the adorableness of it all as she watched Aaron poke Brittany's face and lightly pull at locks of her hair, effectively waking the older blonde up.

Brittany cracked an eye open and smile upon gazing into equally blue ones. "Hey, baby. What are you doing here?" She sat up slowly and snuggled her baby to her chest, careful not to hurt her arm and shoulder. Aaron just giggled and buried his face further into Brittany's chest.

"Hi," Brittany smiled at Santana as she sat down at the end of the bed. "Is this all for me?" She pointed to the tray full of pancakes.

"Yes, it is. Aaron wanted his mommy to have breakfast in bed so we made it together," Santana smiled and took Aaron in her arms, allowing Brittany to eat her pancakes.

"Thanks, you didn't have to."

"You need to get your strength back so… no biggie," the brunette shrugged, while Aaron played with the buttons of her wrinkled shirt.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Actually, I didn't. I gave a bottle to Aaron and then made you the pancakes. Don't worry, I'll eat something later."

"Oh, no you won't," Brittany said, pushing the tray to stand between them. "You made a ton of them, we can totally share."

"They're yours, Brittany."

"Nonsense. Now, open up," Brittany ordered, nearly thrusting the fork inside Santana's mouth, and she had no other choice but to swallow a big dose of pancake. They finished breakfast in silence, only smiling at each other between bites.

"God, I'm so full," Brittany groaned, dropping the fork with a loud clink. "These were great."

"That's one of two things I can cook. Pancakes and eggs," Santana chuckled.

"Well, they were amazing," Brittany smiled sweetly before scrunching up her nose. "I need to shower. And fast. Can you keep an eye on him?"

"Sure, take your time."

Brittany gathered some clothes and went to the en-suite bathroom, leaving Santana playing with Aaron on the bed. She started the water and started to undress her smelly clothes. Her arm was a little better, still she hissed silently when she had to lift it to take off her shirt. It was difficult and hurt like a bitch, but she managed. Her body almost screamed in relieve when the warm water hit her skin. The more she stood under the torrent of water, the more her muscles seemed to loosen. Brittany didn't know how long she stood there, motionless. She was only brought back to reality when there was a light knock on the door and a muffled "Brittany?"

"Yes?"

"Oh, thank God. It was taking a long time, so I thought that something might have happened."

"I'm fine, sorry. I'll be right out."

"Okay."

Brittany quickly washed her hair and body with only one hand, and stepped out of the tub, carefully wrapping herself in a fluffy towel. She brushed her teeth and finished drying her body. She was able to put on some panties without major trouble. However, when she went to clasp her bra, she just couldn't do it. Her arm didn't bend enough in order to put the bra on. She tried putting her t-shirt on without the bra, but couldn't do it either. She either walked around bare naked from her hips up or called for help. The second option seemed wiser.

Brittany put on some pants and passed the straps of her bra over her shoulders, so the cups covered her breasts before calling for Santana.

"Brittany?" Santana said, knocking lightly before entering the steamy bathroom. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just need a little help," the blonde blushed, motioning towards her almost bare torso. "I can't reach the clasp."

"Oh," Santana let out, feeling her cheeks heat up upon landing her eyes on all the creamy skin in front of her. She definitely wasn't ready for Brittany in this state of undress. It also didn't help her case that Brittany was as toned and beautiful as she was in high school. Alright, maybe a faint stretch mark here and there, but hello, she'd had a kid not a year ago.

"Santana?" Brittany looked over her shoulder after several moments.

"Sorry," she mumbled, lifting up her shaky hands and clasping the damn bra. Santana couldn't help but graze her hands lightly and discreetly on the soft skin of Brittany's back. "There."

"Thanks," Brittany turned to face Santana with a light shade of pink covering her cheeks. God, what was happening? Even the lightest touch of Santana's skin against hers was enough to send chills all over her body. Brittany locked eyes with Santana and saw that at least the brunette seemed to be as out of breath as she felt. "Can you help me with my shirt?"

"Sure."

Lifting her arm was a hard task at the moment, so the whole putting on a t-shirt wasn't as easy as it sounded. Santana passed the collar through Brittany's head, followed by the right arm through the sleeve. Her left arm, though, was a whole different story. They tried every way possible and none of them seemed to work.

"Okay, I think we need to undress the right sleeve and stretch the shirt as far as it goes so you don't have to stretch your arm too much," Santana said after several minutes of failed attempts.

"Anything," the blonde replied, clearly hurting and spent from all the moving around.

"All right, let's do it."

Brittany took off her arm from the right sleeve and stretched her left arm as long as she could without it being unbearably painful, while Santana pulled at the fabric and tried to pass Brittany's left arm through the arm hole.

With a final push from the brunette, Brittany's arm finally went inside the sleeve, and left Santana's body almost flushed against the other woman's. Both their hearts pick up their pace when they realized how close their faces were from each other.

Santana, without stepping back an inch, guided Brittany's right arm through its respective sleeve and ran her hand up the arm to the blonde's cheek. Their breaths were mingling with each other and it was making Santana's head dizzy with desire.

It'd been years since she'd been this close to the woman she loved. Hell, she never thought she would ever see Brittany again. And yet, here they were, in the same room, breathing the same air, in the most improbable situation she could ever think of. She felt hot, her brain clouded, and her body seemed to have will of its own, because the next thing she knows, she's leaning forward and her lips are pressing lightly against Brittany's impossibly soft ones. It was like all that cliché stuff burst inside her body. The fireworks exploded inside her head, the chills ran down her spine, and the butterflies flew inside her stomach.

The kiss was quick. Santana pulled back rapidly when she felt the lack of response from Brittany. Her heart broke all over again. Brittany wasn't kissing her back.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking," Santana said, walking backwards towards the door with tears threatening to spill from her wide eyes.

"Santana…"

"I'm sorry," the dark haired woman murmured once again before disappearing from the bathroom.

Brittany snapped out of her daze and ran after Santana, but she was already out of the door. Only Aaron was lying on the bed, sleeping, with pillows flanking his sides to prevent him from falling off the bed. She slowly brought her fingers to her lips. Brittany could still feel them tingling from the brief kiss. What did this mean? Was Santana just caught in the moment or did she still have feelings for Brittany? Brittany doubted that was the case. She'd really hurt Santana by practically forcing her to come out. She didn't know better back then. Just that she wanted to show how much she loved Santana and make everyone wish they had a love like theirs. But her stupidity had ruined everything, like always.

And what did this meant for herself? Did _she_ still have feelings for Santana? Brittany certainly couldn't deny that she felt something. But it was normal, right? Santana had been her first everything. Her first kiss, her first time, her first love. And you never forget your first love. They would always have a special place in our heart. And then there was Brittany's husband. She felt she was betraying him by kissing another person while it's been little over a year since her husband's death. What would her kids think? Would they feel like she wasn't sad anymore that their daddy had passed away? Or maybe they'd feel like Brittany was trying to replace him. Besides, how do you even tell your children that you like girls too?

So many questions running through Brittany's mind were making her head hurt. She grunted and let herself fall carefully on the bed. One thing she couldn't deny. She liked the kiss. She really liked the kiss.

* * *

The morning passed quickly with Santana avoiding Brittany at all cost. She wandered around the house, trying to keep herself busy. Finally, she decided to go to the jeep and unload the bags with the guns and ammo. Then, Santana rummaged around Quinn's garage and found several wooden boards, some hinges and screws, and occupied all of her morning building a box to keep the guns safe and away from the kids. All she was missing was a padlock. Santana hadn't found one, so she made a mental note to don't forget to pick one up when they went 'shopping'.

Afterwards, she tried about every gun. Holding them in her hands, taking in their weight and shape, performing a series of turns and moves to test the compatibility of the object with herself. She finally opted for a small silver pistol that was light and fitted her fingers perfectly. She still wanted to shoot the gun, but it would make too much noise. What Santana needed was a silencer for her gun. That way she could shoot without attracting unwanted attention. But how was she going to get one? Or several. Although she was slightly reluctant, the others still needed to know how to handle a gun.

"Santana? Are you down there?" Quinn's voice reached her ears from the stairs.

"Yeah!"

"Lunch is ready," the blonde's head appeared at the door as Santana set the box full of guns on the top of the highest shelf. "What's that?"

"Hm? Oh, I made a box to keep the guns away from the kids," Santana shrugged and made her way to Quinn. "It's just missing a lock."

"Awesome. I also would like to know why you're hiding down here," Quinn said with a raised brow.

"I'm not hiding," Santana glared when passing Quinn. "Let's eat, I'm starving."

"Whatever you say, Santana," the blonde chuckled and went after the other woman.

* * *

Mallory knocked lightly on Hailey's door. Mercedes had sent her up to get the other girl for lunch. Besides Brittany, Santana, and Quinn, nobody seemed to know why the hell Hailey was grounded for. The only thing Mallory suspected was that Hailey might have left the house without permission, because she seemed to have disappeared for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon. But then again, she could just be in her room or someplace else in the house. With the amount of people currently living in the house, it was hard to keep up with everyone's whereabouts.

"Yes?" Came the weak voice from the other side of the door.

"Hey," Mallory said, poking her head inside the room. Hailey was lying down on her back, looking at the ceiling. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," the blonde answered dismissively.

"Mercedes sent me up to tell you that lunch is ready." Mallory got in the room and sat down at the end of the bed.

"Thanks, but I'm not really hungry," Hailey just continued with her eyes locked on the ceiling. "Besides, in not sure if I have permission to leave my room."

"Mercedes asked me to get you and your mom was in the kitchen, so I'm pretty sure that you can."

Hailey sighed, "Yeah, I know. Santana told me yesterday that I could go down for meals. I think I'm just dreading to see my mom."

"Did something happen?" Mallory asked softly, lowering her body next to Hailey's.

"Just me being stupid."

"Don't say that. It can't be that bad. Unless you sneaked in to wherever they went," the brunette chuckled and turned her head to the side, looking at the other girl's profile. She quickly sat up with wide eyes when Hailey didn't respond and a light blush covered her cheeks.

"Are you serious? Oh my God! That is both utterly stupid and awesome at the same time! Also badass! Who would have thought you had it in you?" Mallory hit Hailey's leg playfully.

"After all that happened, I think it was just stupid. God, I never saw my mom so disappointed in anyone."

Mallory was practically jumping with excitement. "Tell me everything! Where did they go? How did you know they were leaving? What happened?"

"Slow down," Hailey finally let out a chuckle. "I heard Santana, my mom, and your mom talking in the hallway and thought I could be helpful, so I teleported to the garage and got in the trunk."

"Why didn't you tell any of us?"

"There was no time," Hailey shrugged apologetically. She knew how much the four of them wanted to help, and felt kind of bad for going solo. At least they weren't grounded. "And there was no way we could have all sneaked in the car without our moms noticing."

"You're right. But come on, what happened next?" Mallory asked, placing her legs on each side of Hailey's bent ones, and her hands on the blonde's knees, resting her chin onto them. That way she could look directly in the blonde's eyes and don't miss a word.

"They drove to a gun store – "

"A gun store?" Mallory repeated excitedly.

"Can you please let me finish?" the blonde laughed at the other girls fervor.

"Sorry, go on."

"Right. So, I wasn't even planning on leaving the car. You know how I can only teleport to places I've already been, so I just wanted to take a look at it, but there were gunshot noises along with gross grunts and groans and an annoying as hell bell, and they were beginning to take a really long time so I started to worry and decided to check it out and help –"

Hailey was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Are you kidding me?" Mercedes said from the doorway, eyebrows raised and hands on her hips. "I told you to get Hailey, not to sit down and have a lovely chat."

Mallory lowered her head in embarrassment, "I'm sorry."

"Come on, everybody's already in the kitchen," Mercedes said before heading downstairs.

"We better go, I'll tell you the rest later." Hailey got up from the bed, followed by Mallory who had a little pout from being interrupted in the middle of the story.

"You better, I'm might die from curiosity until then."

"You're such a dork," Hailey laughed and made her way to the kitchen with Mallory closely behind.

* * *

After lunch everyone was getting ready to go practice their abilities like usual. The only problem was that one of the rooms they used for practice was Hailey's room and the girl was grounded.

"Where are we going to practice?" Mallory asked, her eyes darting between the adults. "I'm sure you'll agree that one room is not enough for all of us."

All the women looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"Kids, can you go play?" Santana asked loudly at the even louder kids who were finishing the last bites of their dessert.

"Do you mean we don't have to clear the table?" asked an overexcited Zoey.

"Yes, you can go," Santana rolled her eyes and let out a laugh. Who could blame them? She loathed doing the dishes when she was younger.

Although the little ones ran out the kitchen, Hailey, Mallory, Elle, and Matt sat still on their chairs.

"Why are you still sitting?" Quinn asked with a raised eyebrow.

Matt gazed at his mother, "You serious?"

"Yes, I am. We need to discuss this," Quinn stated. "Among us adults," she continued when she saw four mouths open to protest.

"We're not kids," Mallory whined.

"In my eyes, you are," Santana said with a slight smirk. "Too bad. Now, out of my sight, weirdos."

After a couple of huffs and groans, the four teens reluctantly got up the chairs and made their way to the door.

"Oh, but don't go far!" Santana added. "We'll let you know our decision in a minute. Have fun!" She couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Their pissed off faces before closing the door behind them were priceless.

"You're terrible," Mercedes also giggled.

"I love to annoy the crap out of them. Well, I love to annoy the crap out of anyone. They're just easier to annoy, and because they're lower in the family food chain, there's nothing they can do about it."

"Anyhow," Rachel shook her head at all the nonsense, "what are we doing regarding Hailey's room?"

"Can I say something?" Santana intervened.

"You're going to say it anyways," Quinn said, picking her nails.

"Of course I will," Santana smirked at Quinn before turning to Brittany. "Anyways… I know this is ultimately your decision, but I think you should lay off the punishment."

Brittany sat straighter in her chair, surprised with Santana's words. It was the first time Santana addressed her since the kiss. There was tension lingering between them, that was for sure, and Brittany certainly wasn't expecting Santana to ask her to let Hailey off the hook.

"Santana, she disobeyed me. We strictly told everyone to stay inside and she broke that rule. She put herself in incredible danger. Yeah, everything turned out okay, but what if it hadn't? What if something happened to her?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm not saying that what she did was right," Santana reassured, meeting Brittany's eyes briefly. "But she saved my life. That I can't forget."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Tina raised both hands in the air. "What do you mean she saved your life? What is this all about? Can someone please give us some kind of clue of what happened?"

Santana looked at the confused faces in front of her. She sighed deeply and told them everything that happened until they parked the jeep back in the garage.

"Oh, wow, hmm… I really don't know," Mercedes said after hearing the entire story. "I would be really, really mad if it were one of my kids, _but_ if it weren't for her, none of you would be sitting here right now," she finished, pointing towards Brittany, Quinn, and Santana.

"But if Hailey doesn't get grounded, it would be practically telling her, and the rest of them, that going behind our backs and ignoring the rules we imposed is okay. That they don't have to deal with the consequences every time they do something bad," Rachel made her point.

"I went to her room last night, and honestly, seeing Brittany disappointed in her is hurting her more than any punishment," Santana said, looking at Brittany who was gazing down at her hands, deep in thought. "Just this once, I think we should let it pass. If any of them do something like this again, then we should ground them."

"It's Britt's call," Quinn shrugged her shoulders.

Brittany lifted her head and locked eyes with Santana. "I think Santana might be right. Also, we need the room to practice," she then looked between all of them, "and if you agree, when they break our rules, they all pay. If one of those four makes a mistake, all of them are grounded."

"It's fine with me," Quinn agreed. "Maybe that'll encourage them to behave."

Everybody expressed their consent and Mercedes went to call the teens back.

"So?" Mallory asked as soon as their butts hit the chairs. "What's the verdict?"

"Hailey's not grounded anymore –"

"I'm not?" Hailey interrupted, nervously searching her mother's gaze for confirmation.

Brittany nodded slightly, "No, but that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed anymore."

Hailey fixed her eyes on the floor and nodded in understanding.

"Oh, but there's more," Santana smirked.

"What do you mean there's more?" Mallory asked with narrowed eyes.

"Hailey's off the hook just because we need the room," Santana started mischievously. "So, to ensure that you'll think twice before you screw up, we decided that you four will pay whenever one of you breaks a rule."

"What? That's totally unfair," Mallory huffed.

"It sucks," Santana chuckled wickedly.

"We're just trying to keep you safe," Brittany reasoned.

"Yes. Besides, if you're good, nothing's going to happen," Quinn added. "It's not even that bad. Just the new basic safety rules so that nobody gets hurt. We want to trust you, but first you have to proof that you're worthy of that trust."

"Precisely, and that resumes to one simple task: don't do anything stupid," Tina finished. "Okay?"

They all nodded their heads at the same time. The rules weren't that bad. Just don't step outside the gates, don't wander inside the gates alone and without telling anyone, or do much noise.

"Okay, you can go now."

The teens all trotted up the stairs, leaving the women alone once again.

"How are we in terms of food?" Santana asked, already knowing that the answer wouldn't be pleasant.

"Not very good," Mercedes informed and got up to inspect the pantry. "There's enough for maybe three, four days tops."

That only confirmed what Santana already knew. "That's okay, we'll manage."

"Now, let's go practice," Quinn said and got up from her chair, followed by the rest of them.

After pushing all the furniture to the corner and finishing their sort of meditation session, the teens were dispersing around the room, like usual. Elle sat in the corner, first trying to absorb as many voices as she could, though she could only hear the people in Quinn's house. It seemed that really wasn't another healthy human anywhere around them. Her second exercise was to concentrate in only one person. It was kind of invasion of privacy, so she usually chose the little kids. It was actually pretty funny to be inside their heads sometimes. They were so innocent and full of imagination. It was fascinating and Elle often found herself laughing at the silly little things that went through their minds.

Today, however, Elle wanted to try something new. Today she was going to try one of the adults. Deep down, she knew that what she really wanted was to be inside her mother's head, but she was also afraid of what she'd find. So she opted for another one. Brittany. Brittany was always good to her, she wouldn't be mad at her if she found out that Elle had been rummaging through her mind.

She took a deep breath, blocked all the noises surrounding her, and sought Brittany in her mind.

"…_should find something new to do with the plants. But not with the ones inside. Those won't do. I'd have to be outside, but that's too dangerous. I'll have to think of something,"_ Elle smiled to herself when she heard the familiar voice in her head. It wasn't perfect though. She could still hear snippets of thoughts from the others, so she tried harder to isolate Brittany.

"_Maybe I can create some kind of garden outside. Yes, that'd be awesome! That way we could eat fresh food. No fresh meat or fish though. Oh god, we're all going to turn veggies like Rachel!"_

That made Elle chuckle. Turns out Brittany's mind could also be pretty funny and entertaining.

"_And I'd have to get someone to be outside with me. But I don't want to bother anyone. I could learn to fight and stuff, that way I wouldn't need anyone. Yeah, that's it. Maybe Santana could… No. She's avoiding me since this morning. She's afraid, I know she is, and it's all my fault. Stupid Brittany. I shouldn't have let her leave like that. Well, it's not like she gave me a choice, really. But I need to tell her that she doesn't need to be afraid, that the ki –"_

"Matt!"

Elle was brought back from her mind reading by a loud and scared scream from Mallory.

"What's happening? Matt, what's happening?"

Lately Matt and Mallory trained together. Well, not really together. More like trying to outdo each other. If Matt conjured a fireball, Mallory would either use wind or water in order to fight her brother's creation. Each day they were being more and more audacious. If, in the beginning, they'd only use simple fireballs and spurts of water, now they were firing complex water, wind, earth and/or fire formations that divided at some point in their trajectory, creating several points of attack or others that disappeared and reappeared in another completely different location.

They seemed to inside each other's minds though, because neither of them ever lost. Every single attack was blocked before reaching its opponent. It was quite fascinating to watch, actually. Like watching your own, very unique, firework show. How they had yet to burn anything in the room was a complete mystery in Elle's opinion.

But now, something new seemed to be happening, and Elle could see that neither Matt nor Mallory were in control of whatever it was. The twins were facing each other, with what looked like a silver glowing rope coming out of their chests. Both ropes met halfway and the ends wrapped around each other. The glowing turned gold, and Matt and Mallory were being pulled towards one another.

"Mal, are you doing this?" Matt asked with fear in his eyes.

"No, I'm not doing anything! What the hell is happening?" Mallory said just as scared.

"I don't know, but I can't control it."

Before Mallory could say anything back, their chests bumped each other and a flash of white blinded everyone in the room. Elle heard Hailey letting out a surprised scream from the other side of the room. What the fuck was happening? She couldn't hear Matt or Mallory. But just as fast as it came, the flash was gone.

Elle blinked her eyes several times, trying to get used to the normal light again. When she was finally able to see again, she spotted a single figure standing in the middle of the room with its head down. At first she thought it was Matt – where the hell was Mallory? But when she looked more closely, she let out a loud gasp.

What stood before her was neither Matt nor Mallory. It was kind of… both. The hair was Matt's dreadlocks, but the face and body were a complete mixture of both. It wasn't possible to say if the person in front of Elle was a male or female. The traits were completely mixed. Also the clothes were an odd combination. It seemed that it were Mallory's jeans, but those would never fit Matt. The same could be said about the shirt. It was Matt's shirt, only smaller. The clothes, like everything else, combined and adjusted to fit the new being that was formed.

"Matt? Mallory?" Hailey asked hesitantly, taking a step forward.

The figure turned its head to Hailey and the girl seemed a little frightened. Elle didn't blame her, that was for sure. All this crazy stuff was way out of everybody's comfort zone.

"What happened?" The figure spoke, making both Hailey and Elle jump.

It was a perfect fusion between Matt and Mallory's voices, giving it an almost computerized sound. Like they were speaking in some sort of strange harmony. The low tune of Matt's voice blending in with Mallory's higher one. It was an odd but fascinating and mesmerizing combination.

"I think you and Mallory, or you and Matt, depending on who's in charge, are only one now," Elle answered a little uncertainly.

"Yeah, we know that we're fused, but how did it happen? Was it the ropes?" The figure inquired in its robotic voice. "And we're both in charge, I guess. We're just one person."

Elle nodded a little dumbfounded. It was the weirdest thing she'd ever seen in her entire life. "Hm, I think so. The ropes pulled you towards each other, there was a blinding flash of light, and next thing I know, you were here."

The figure turned to Hailey, looking for confirmation, and Hailey nodded with her mouth still slightly open.

"This is the weirdest thing ever," Hailey let out a laugh.

"Tell me about it," the figure said, looking down to inspect its hands.

"Do you think it's temporary?" Hailey asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I really hope so, don't want to stay like this forever."

"Well, come on, try something!" Elle said excitedly.

"Try what?"

"Oh, please," Elle rolled her eyes. "The powers. Do something!"

"…Okay."

The Matt and Mallory fusion turned around, facing the wall, and took a deep breath. The next moment, an aura was forming around it, and the floor started to shake lightly.

_Fuck, this is not good. Definitely not good._ Elle thought as some pictures fell from the walls. Next, an enormous ball of fire shot out from one of the hands to the ceiling, followed closely by minuscule particles of sand that pierced the fireball and transformed it in a giant rotating ring. A second later, torrents of strong wind were engulfing the fire and sand, making them spin out of control and shine impossibly bright.

Elle and Hailey were shielding their eyes with their arms and had their backs against the wall, unable to move a feet without being sucked into the spinning madness above them. The shiny, spinning thing was increasing in size and brightness at each passing moment, and it was just a matter of time before it exploded. Elle could see and feel the pressure quickly building.

"Stop it! Whatever you're doing, stop!" Hailey screamed desperately. "It's going to explode!"

"I can't!" The computerized voice screamed back. "I'm trying, but I can't! I'm so sorry!"

"What the hell is happening here?" Santana's voice sounded from the doorway.

"Get out of here! Take everyone and get as far as you can!"

"What's wrong with his voice?" Quinn asked, appearing behind Santana with Tina quickly behind.

"I'm serious, this is going to explode and I don't know how long I'm going to be able to hold it."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Santana sighed and walked as fast as she could to grab the girls. "Come on."

"Where's Mallory?" Quinn yelled, searching desperately for her other baby. She didn't know that they were joined, and with all the light, wind, and noises, it was easy to miss that the figure in the center of the room wasn't just Matt as the dreadlocks lead to believe.

"No time to explain, get out!"

"What about you?" Hailey shouted desperately, while being dragged out of the room by Santana.

"I'll be fine, don't worry. It can't hurt me. Now go!"

They ran down the stairs as fast as they could, but before they could make it to the ground floor, their bodies were projected forward as an ear-shattering explosion sounded behind them and pieces of wood and wall flew in every direction.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading :)**


	13. Chapter 13

"Shit," Santana mumbled as she looked around trying to locate the others.

"Is everyone okay?" Tina shouted through the dust particles that filled the air.

"I'm all right," Hailey coughed.

"Me too," Elle said as she waved her hands in the air, trying to see past all the dust.

"Quinn?" Santana called, making her way down a couple steps careful not to trip.

"I'm here," Quinn's weak voice sounded from the end of the staircase.

Santana rushed to the blonde's side, ignoring the pain in her own leg. "Shit, Quinn," she said when her eyes fell on Quinn lying on the floor, with blood coming out from a cut on her temple, and her arm already forming a big purple bruise, probably from colliding with the wall or landing on the floor. "Can you move?"

"Yeah, just need a little hand," Quinn panted a little, extending her hand for Santana to take.

Quinn stood up and groaned when pain shoot from her ribs.

"God, I think I hurt my ribs," the blonde said breathlessly.

"No shit, you fell from almost an entire set of stairs."

"What happened?" Brittany appeared in the hall with a crying Aaron in her arms.

Now that everything was quiet, Santana could hear the younger kids crying from the open playroom door. Poor kids, must have got one hell of a scare.

"Is everyone alright?" Santana asked Brittany, nodding her head towards the playroom.

"Yes, they're just scared," Brittany said dismissively, more preoccupied with the bloodied people in front of her. "Now, what the hell happened?"

"We don't know, I'm hoping these two can explain," Santana pointed to Hailey and Elle.

"But first let's get Quinn out of here so I can examine her," Tina stated, passing one of Quinn's arms over her shoulder.

"I'm just gonna check upstairs and see what's the damage," Santana announced and went carefully up the stairs that were now missing most of its left half, all the way from the top of the first to the second floor.

Santana couldn't help but gasp when she reached the top of the first set of stairs. The entire left side of the first and second floor was destroyed, allowing the afternoon breeze to caress her sweaty face. Only some lame foundations and chunks of floor here and there were still holding up above her head. Innumerous pieces of wood, glass, and concrete cracked underneath her boots with each step she took. Water spurted from the ripped off plumbing of the en-suit bathrooms, along with fabric from all the clothes, mattresses and bed sheets that either laid ruined on the floor or hung above her from the ruins that not even five minutes ago were bedrooms walls.

The scariest thing about all this wasn't even the fact that they were now missing half of the house and their stuff. Oh, no. What scared Santana the most was that Matt wasn't anywhere to be found. He was the one exploding. He said he'd be okay, but what if he'd been wrong or just wanted them out of there? Matt didn't even sound like himself at the time. And how would Quinn cope if anything happened to one of her children?

Santana almost jumped out of skin by a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Brittany murmured, stepping beside Santana. "Wow," she added quietly, looking at the devastation in front of them.

Santana just smiled sadly in response.

"God, what happened?" Brittany asked for the umpteenth time.

"I'm sorry, I'll explain later, now I need to find Matt," Santana turned to go up the damaged stairs.

"Matt?" Brittany asked and went after Santana. "What does he have to do with this? And, please, be careful with these stairs."

"He has everything to do with this."

Before Brittany could ask Santana what she meant, they arrived to the second floor hall and found two figures lying on the floor among the wreckage.

"Oh my god," Brittany rushed to the two motionless bodies.

Matt and Mallory were sprawled on the floor, their faces pale white, clothes in shreds, and skin covered in small cuts and scratches. Santana kneelt down next to Mallory and slapped her face lightly, followed by Brittany who did the same to Matt.

"Come on girl," Santana pleaded urgently. "Wake up."

Both women let out a sigh of relieve when Mallory started to stir before slowly opening her eyes.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Mallory rubbed the back of her head. "Oh shit! Did we do this?" the girl asked alarmed when her eyes fell on the destroyed half of the house.

"First of all, language," Santana reprimanded half-heartedly. "Second, what do you mean 'we'?"

"Me and Matt, we… Oh god, Matt!" Mallory turned to her side, only now noticing her still unconscious brother, despite Brittany's efforts.

"He's not waking up, I don't know what to do," Brittany was almost in tears.

"I got it," Mallory announced before slapping Matt hard right on the cheek.

"Uh, that must have hurt," Santana let out a giggle, while Brittany just gasped and brought a hand up to cover her mouth.

When Matt just twitched an eyebrow, Mallory decided to try another approach. The girl placed a hand over her brother's face and expelled a jet of water directly to it.

"What the hell?" the boy coughed, getting up to a sitting position.

"You were having trouble waking up, sorry," Mallory shrugged. "Actually, I'm not that sorry, that was hilarious."

"And why is my cheek on fire?" Matt asked confused, bringing a hand to cup his face.

"I don't know what you're –"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'd like to address the fact that the house is half destroyed," Santana interrupted, motioning to her left, "and how you two seem to be connected to it."

"Shit, the house exploded?" Matt looked to the side dumbfounded.

"Again, language, and yes, it did," Santana deadpanned. "I'd like to know what happened, but we don't have much time. The noise must have attracted zombies, so we need to check if everything it's closed outside and strong enough to hold them out."

"Let's go then," Mallory said while getting up.

"You two are not going anywhere unless that place is your room for Tina to check on you," Brittany stopped them and Santana nodded in agreement, earning a scoff from both teens. "You're injured. Then you can tell us what happened."

"It's just little scratches, and besides, we don't even have rooms anymore," Mallory argued, pointing her arm to the mess on her side.

Brittany and Santana traded a look and Brittany nodded slightly.

"Fine, but you're telling us exactly what happened later," Santana got up from the floor and headed to the stairs, rolling her eyes at the obvious excitement in Matt and Mallory's face. "And, please, be careful with the stairs."

The four of them reached the lawn after a quick stop at the garage, where Santana grabbed her gun and reluctantly handed one to Brittany too. The twins grasped the baseball bat and the crowbar, just in case.

"Now, listen," Santana turned to the siblings. "There shouldn't be anything inside the gates, but if things get ugly and I tell you to run to the house and lock the doors, you do as I say without a question, understand?"

Matt and Mallory nodded their heads reluctantly, but both understood that being where they were at the moment was already a privilege to them. They were not ruining the trust Santana and Brittany had put in them.

Santana pulled Brittany gently aside by the arm and whispered in her ear, "And this is applicable to you, too. You're injured."

"No way, Santana," Brittany said dead serious, looking straight into Santana's eyes. "Last time you told me to hide, you almost died. I'm not taking that chance again."

"Last time was different, we're safe here. It's just precaution."

"Then there's nothing to worry about," Brittany loaded her gun and headed to the front gates, leaving a groaning Santana with no choice but to follow her.

The four of them checked every possible entrance, but luckily all of them seemed to be holding up just fine. They were very lucky that Quinn liked privacy and had built such high walls around the house, and were even luckier that the explosion didn't damage any of them. During their check up, they had, in fact, seen several zombies dragging themselves around the house, clawing at the gates, unmistakably attracted by the loud bang of the explosion, but unable to find a way in. There weren't many of them, fact that Santana found extremely odd. Maybe they went somewhere else in hopes to find a better source of food.

Matt had suggested that she finished them, but she shook her head. Santana explained quietly that she'd thought about that the second her eyes landed on one of the creatures. The thing was, their guns didn't have silencers and that would only attract more of them or cause for them to agglomerate in one place, which, with their efforts combined, could result in a smashed gate or them climbing over it. So, for now, she let them be. If they were still trying to break in in the morning, then Santana had every intention to take them down.

"Everything seems safe for now, let's get back inside," Santana said, lowering her gun and turning back to the house, followed closely by Brittany and the kids.

"I was thinking that maybe we should do some night watching," Brittany said, holding the garage door for the kids to pass.

"Yeah, I've been thinking the same thing," Santana agreed. "I have to teach you to shoot first, though."

"Can we learn too?" Matt and Mallory asked at the same time.

Santana glanced rapidly at Brittany before shrugging her shoulders, "If it's okay with your mom, I don't see why not." Santana was waiting for Brittany to disagree and say that's dangerous for kids to handle weapons, but to her surprise, the blonde only nodded her head.

"We're going to check on your mother, but we want to know exactly what happened," Brittany said as they reached the top of the stairs that led to the hall.

"Yeah, in case you didn't notice, half the house is missing," Santana nodded. "Now, go eat something and clean up, then meet us in your mom's room when you finish."

As the twins went to the kitchen, Brittany and Santana went up the broken stairs, peaking at several doors before finding the one Quinn was in. Well, not only Quinn. Tina, Mercedes, Hailey, Elle, and Johanna were also there, talking quietly to each other.

"Hey, Q," Brittany smiled, taking a seat at the end of the bed. "How're you doing?"

"Fine," Quinn waved her hand dismissively. "Where's Matt?"

"He's fine, and so is Mallory."

"Mallory?" Quinn asked both confused and a little panicked. "What does she have to do with this?"

"We're yet to know the answer to that question," Santana sighed.

"It wasn't Matt that created the explosion," Elle started. "Well, at least not alone."

"Not alone, what do you mean?"

"You only saw the silhouette, and because of the dreadlocks, you all assumed it was Matt, when in reality it was both him and Mallory combined."

"Combined?" Tina scrunched her face in confusion. "As in two bodies in one?"

"Exactly," Elle nodded.

"But how?"

There was a knock on the door and both Matt and Mallory entered the room, each with a sandwich in hand, and took a seat next to Brittany at the end of bed.

"Well, maybe these two can explain what happened," Santana pointed to the twins, before crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"We… hmm… well, we sort of train together every day, but we always compete," Matt started.

"Yeah, we use to train one against the other," Mallory nodded in agreement. "Today though, we decided to help each other. Like making our powers work together."

"Then I felt like a pull towards Mal," Matt looked at his sister, who just nodded, confirming that she'd felt the same thing. "And next thing I know, there's this weird rope thing getting out of our chests, meeting in the middle, and pulling until we bumped each other."

"When we opened our eyes, there was only one of us."

"Hence the weird voice," Santana said, trying to make some sense of it all.

Mallory nodded, "Yes. We also tried to do something with our powers and that's when things got messy. We're like two times stronger and we couldn't control what we were doing, so things got out of hand pretty fast."

"We're so sorry about the house Mom," Matt said, swallowing the lump forming in his throat.

"We didn't mean for this to happen," Mallory added, also trying to fight back tears. God, she felt so horrible. Half of their house was gone. Everything that her mom and dad had worked for was gone in a matter of seconds, all because of them.

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're okay," Quinn smiled softly and opened her arms for her kids, who scooted forwards and wrapped their arms around their mother.

"We need to figure out new rooming arrangements," reasoned Santana.

"Yeah, we need to pair up or something," Mercedes agreed. "How many rooms are left?"

"Eight."

"Eight? Shit… Hmm so who wants to stay with who?"

"Wait, are you sure the second floor is safe?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah, Brittany and I went up there searching for Matt and Mallory and there wasn't a single crack on the right side."

"Okay, so I know she's not here, but, Connor, Carson, and I don't mind sharing with Rachel," Tina offered.

"Good luck with that," Santana smirked. Although she was teasing Tina, she was feeling a little nervous from the prospect of rooming with Brittany. Sure, she wanted it badly, but at the same time, things would return to be so awkward the minute there was only them in a room. She was going to ask Quinn to be her roommate, but Mercedes beat her at it.

"Quinn, mind being my roomie? Along with Abby, of course."

"Sure Cedes." Quinn smiled.

"I guess I'll room with Santana," Brittany smiled, locking hesitant eyes with Santana's.

"Don't forget Aaron," Santana smiled back, trying to play it cool even though she was panicking inside.

"Kids?" Brittany addressed the children in the room.

"Jo?" Elle asked Johanna, who nodded and smiled brightly. "Great."

"That leaves us two then," Mallory said to Hailey, who grinned as her cheeks reddened a little.

"Jaden and Zack probably want to room together," Mercedes said.

"It's fine, I'll partner up with Sebastian," Matt offered. "He's my little man."

"That only leaves one room available right?"

"Yeah, but don't worry. I'm sure the girls won't mind sleeping all in the same room," Quinn reassured. "In fact, I'm sure they'll love it."

"Okay, that's everyone right? So teens, you get the second floor rooms and we stay here with the little ones."

Later, after they all managed to clean up the some of the wrecks from the explosion, they were all gathered around the living room, ready to watch a movie. Yes, it was a little weird watching a movie when half the house was missing and there were monsters lurking around it, but they all agreed that transmitting a sense of calm and normalcy would be the best for the kids. Besides it was still early and they were getting bored.

Santana wasn't paying any attention to the movie. She was sitting on the couch, absently running her fingers through Lily's blonde hair, while thinking about ways to protect and train the people in the house. The priority was getting silencers so they could train with the guns without any noise. She just wasn't sure how to get them. That was until Hailey got up from her seat, announcing that she was going to the bathroom, and giving Santana a great idea. That was it. Hailey was her solution. She placed Lily, who had been nestled on her lap, to the side and made up a quick excuse, leaving after the young blonde.

Hailey had gone to the ground floor bathroom – more like a spa – which was on the right side, next to the kitchen. Santana reclined her back against the staircase and waited in the middle of the hall for the teen's return.

"Oh, God!" Hailey clutched a hand to her chest, inhaling deeply to steady her breathing when she saw Santana sitting on the steps. "Wasn't expecting you there."

"Sorry, kid," Santana chuckled and nudged her lightly on the shoulder. "Come on, I need your help."

Hailey had no choice but to follow Santana down the stairs to what seemed to be the garage.

"Santana, what are we doing here?"

Santana closed the garage door and turned to the girl, "Like I said, I need your help."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I know this is too much to ask, and I understand if you don't want to do it, but I kinda need you to go back to the gun store."

Hailey just stood there looking at Santana. Did she hear well? Did Santana want her to be apart of some plan that should be 'adults only'?

"I totally get if you don't want to do it, it's dangerous and… I'll get them some other –"

"I'll do it," Hailey said, snapping out of her daze and cutting off Santana's ramble.

"You… are you sure? This has to be a secret. Brittany would kill me if she knew."

"Don't worry, she'll never know. Now, what's the thing you want me to get?"

"Okay, yeah… hmm I need silencers."

"That thing that keeps the guns from making noise?"

"Yup, exactly," Santana nodded. "You can't take people with you yet, can you?"

"No, not yet," Hailey looked down sadly. "Sorry."

"It's okay, kid," Santana smiled and placed both hands on Hailey's shoulders, making the girl face her. "You're already amazing as you are, don't worry about it." Hailey smiled shyly and her cheeks tainted red. "So, I know you can take an empty bag with you, but we need to be sure that you can teleport back with a bag full of silencers."

"Just hand me the bag full of guns and I'll try to teleport with it. If I don't, then I'll go back as many times I have to so we'll have enough."

"Okay, but we have to be quick, you're suppose to be in the bathroom."

Hailey gripped the bag full of guns in her hand, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath while letting images of the garden outside fill her mind. A moment later, she felt the wind caress her face and her hands empty. Groaning in frustration, Hailey headed to the garage door and stepped inside, finding Santana picking up the bag from the floor and emptying some of its contents.

"Try again," Santana offered her the duffle bag that now contained about half the height.

And Hailey did. This time, when she opened her eyes, she felt the corners of her mouth lift up in a slightly proud smile upon seeing the bag still secured in her hand. She almost ran back to the garage where she was met with a grinning Santana.

"Good girl," Santana praised. "Now, if you see any of them, forget the silencers, forget everything. You come back here immediately, clear?"

Hailey nodded and emptied the rest of the bag, "I'll be back in a minute," she said while grabbing the crowbar.

"Be careful!" Santana warned but Hailey was already gone.

While she waited, Santana lifted herself up to sit on the hood of the jeep and ran a hand through her hair. At each passing second, doubt and uncertainty rose inside her chest. What was she thinking? Sending a child all alone to get stupid and useless stuff like silencers. Well, not completely useless, but it's not like they couldn't survive without it. Santana took a deep breath and chewed nervously on her bottom lip. Minutes felt like hours until, suddenly, Hailey appeared in front of her, carrying the duffle bag with her.

"Are you okay? Did anything happen?" Santana rushed to the girl.

"Relax, the only thing I saw were the even rottener bodies that we left on the floor."

"Thank god," Santana sighed in relieve. "Did you get them?"

"Yeah," Hailey said while fumbling with the zipper to open the bag. "I didn't know which ones to get, so I brought a bunch of them in different sizes."

Santana peaked inside the bag and was very happy to see what they needed. There were about forty or so silencers that differed in size. She could start planning the training right away.

"Is there enough? Do you want me to get more?"

Santana smiled brightly and pulled Hailey into a hug, "Thanks, kid, these are perfect. You did great, I'm proud of you." Hailey just averted her eyes to the ground and smiled bashfully. "Now, let's go upstairs before your mom comes looking for us."

* * *

That night, Hailey was tossing and turning in her new bed shared with Mallory, who had drift off hours ago. Since yesterday, every time she closed her eyes, images of zombies chasing after her and her family and friends, missing chunks of flesh and grunting chillingly, appeared behind her eyelids, making her wake up startled and sweaty. She sighed loudly and almost jumped out of her skin when Mallory's soft voice reached her ears.

"Hey, you okay?"

Hailey turned to her side so that they were facing each other, "Yeah, just a little shaken up from all that's been going on these couple of days."

"Want to talk about it?" Mallory whispered back lazily and Hailey just shrugged. "Come on, you still own me the rest of the story behind your not so harsh punishment."

"Go back to sleep," the blonde giggled as Mallory's eyelids opened and closed at a slow pace.

"No, no, no!" the girl whined in an adorable way. "I really want to hear it."

"Fine," Hailey conceded with a smile still plastered on her face. "I don't even remember where I stopped, though."

"Something about listening to them and getting out of the car to check it out."

"Oh, hmm, yeah… so I went out but didn't see anything, just keep hearing more gunshots coming from inside the store. I remember hearing Santana shouting something that I didn't understand to our moms, then more firing noises and I was having like an internal battle between going in and staying outside… Are you asleep?" Hailey hushed amusedly as she took in the other girl's closed eyes.

"Nope, still awake," Mallory murmured back, the corners of her mouth lifting up slightly to form a small smile. "Keep going, please."

"Okay, as I was saying, I didn't know whether to keep still or going in so I was basically planted in the middle of the road making a fool of myself."

"It's not like there was somebody to make fun of you."

Hailey let out a chuckle, "Yeah, you're right. Anyway, then I realized that the shooting had stopped but none of them was getting out of the store. That's when I decided to go in and found Santana cornered against the counter by one of them."

"Wait, Santana was trapped? That doesn't seem like her. What about our moms?" Mallory asked with her eyes still closed.

"Santana was alone when I got there. I think she told our moms to get out of the way and that she could handle it. She wasn't shooting the zombie so I'm sure that she ran out of bullets and couldn't grab anything."

"And what did you do?"

"I did the first thing that came to mind. I grabbed a machete that was stored on the shelf closest to me and hit the monster on the head. And that's about it."

Mallory opened her eyes and gazed into blue ones before whispering, "I think you're very brave."

Hailey was sure that her blush was noticeable even if the only light in the room was a stripe on moonlight that slipped from the gap between the curtains, "Anyone would've done the same thing in my place."

"Not true. I bet most of them would have panicked if they landed eyes on a damn zombie. I know I did," Mallory averted her eyes sheepishly, remembering the first time she saw one and how she'd reacted.

"Hey, you have nothing to be ashamed of," Hailey reassured. "It's perfectly normal to be affected by them. They're fucking zombies!" Mallory couldn't help but chuckle with the blonde. "Besides, I'm the one here who can't sleep because every time I close my eyes, they appear right in front of me, more than ready to take a bite."

"I'm sorry," Mallory murmured as she tried to hide a yawn behind her hand.

"It's okay, go to sleep."

"But it's unfair because you can't," the words were dragged out as Mallory was quickly drifting off.

"Don't worry," Hailey giggled, "I'll manage."

"Okay."

Hailey let her gaze linger a moment longer on the other girls face before turning to the other side, so her back was facing Mallory. She was tired. Exhausted, actually. But as soon as she closed her eyelids, there they were, welcoming her to a restless night full of nightmares. That was until an arm sneaked around her waist and she felt herself being pulled against Mallory's warm body. At first she tensed. The last thing she expected was being Mallory's cuddling buddy, but she soon let her body relax, allowing the other girl's sweet scent cloud her senses and encircle her body in a blanket of comfort and security.

"Night, Hailey," Mallory breathed against Hailey's neck, making a shiver run down her spine.

"Night, Mall," the blonde whispered back, letting her eyes close and her body fall into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

It was four in the morning and Santana had yet to go to bed. She'd been busy writing down ideas on a notebook about the training. What weapons should the kids learn to handle, teaching the mechanics of guns, that kind of stuff. She was also reviewing fighting techniques in her head, all of this while walking around outside the house, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Santana reached one of the many benches that adorned Quinn's yard and sat down heavily. She went through the to-do list on her notebook and couldn't help but let out a sigh. Things weren't looking good for them. With so many mouths to feed, their provisions were dissipating at a hallucinating speed. They would also be getting short on clothing since most of it was ripped to shreds by the explosion and the younger kids were growing little by little every day. Also Santana prayed to whomever or whatever was up there that the water and electricity didn't stop coming. Without it they would definitely be lost and few were the chances of survival.

Santana was in the middle of taking her notes when a slight rustling reached her ears. She quickly reached for the gun tucked in her pants and swung her body, pointing the gun in front of her head.

"It's me!" Brittany rushed out, lifting her hands in the air. "Don't shoot."

Santana lowered her gun immediately, "Dammit Brittany, don't sneak up on people like that, I could have hurt you."

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to," Brittany said a little guiltily and moved to sit on the bench.

"What are you doing here?" Santana asked, looking at the watch on her wrist that showed 4:34 am.

"You never went to bed, so I came to see if anything happened to you. Why aren't _you_ in bed?"

Santana let her eyes fall to the ground. She did want to be sure they were safe, but she'd be lying if her night watch didn't have anything to do with the opportunity to escape sleeping in the same bed as Brittany after the damn kiss in the bathroom.

"I'm doing my shift."

"Santana, we didn't discuss this as a group, we didn't settle anything. And you can't do an all-night shift, especially by yourself. It's not fair to you and it's dangerous."

"I don't mind doing it alone," Santana shrugged. "It helps me to clear out my head. And I can take care of myself."

"I know that you can," Brittany said quickly, noticing the slight offended tone in the other woman's voice, "but it's not how we do things around here. We have to stick together. I know that the rest of us don't exactly know how to defend ourselves, and that you somehow feel responsible for our safety, but you don't have to do everything alone. We're here and we want to learn from you. To be useful. At least I do."

Santana turned her head to the side and was met with Brittany's intense and determined gaze. The blonde was dead serious, and from what Santana knew about Brittany, there was no way of talking Brittany out of it when she supported that fire in her blue eyes. So she silently nodded in response and was presented with a huge and perfect smile from Brittany.

"Good, we start tomorrow morning so you better go to bed if you want to sleep a couple of hours," Brittany got up from the bench and wrapped her jacket tighter around herself. It may be the middle of the summer but the temperature always dropped significantly at night.

"You go ahead, I'll be there in a minute, just wanna check the gates again," actually that was a complete lie. Santana had no intention of going in and sharing a bed with Brittany. It was too much to be that close to her, to not be able to escape Brittany's aroma that had the sheer power of blurring her mind and causing her to do stupid things... like kissing Brittany in the bathroom. She was getting tired, so she built a quick plan. She'd let Brittany head to the bedroom, wait a little for her to fall asleep, and then maybe crash on the couch or something. She just couldn't sleep in the same bed as Brittany. That meant too much pain, too many memories, and too much regret.

"I have to go and check on Aaron, but I'll be waiting for you," Brittany stated soft but firmly, knowing well that Santana was perfectly capable of not even stepping a foot inside their bedroom.

Santana nodded her head and watched Brittany stepping inside before letting a heavy sigh escape her lips. Now she just had to wait a little to go inside herself and crash on the couch. God, she could use a freaking cigarette, but her last pack was long gone. She decided to make a last round around the house just to be sure everything was okay and headed to the living room. Santana took off her boots and laid down on the comfy couch, pulling a blanket to cover herself on the way. Even though she was drained, her mind didn't seem to be cooperating with her body. The minutes were passing and sleep wasn't coming. Maybe Sandman had been caught and was now a zombie too.

All this time Santana's thoughts were spiraling inside her head. Brittany, zombies, protecting everybody, Brittany, getting supplies, kissing Brittany... God, the damn kiss. What was she thinking? People don't go around kissing their high school sweethearts out of the fucking blue. Especially if you don't see said sweetheart for twenty years, they have children, and are coming out of a loving relationship. Well, Santana didn't know if it was a loving relationship, but it's Brittany we're talking about here. She wouldn't be with someone who made her unhappy. Hell, Santana didn't know how someone would be anything but happy with Brittany around. And now that Brittany was back in her life, she had to be an idiot and ruin everything by behaving like a hormonal teenager.

And it's not like she could forget or ignore what happened. They had to live in the same house for god knows how long, and as hard as it was for Santana to look at Brittany every day and picturing what her life would have been like, she didn't want to create a tense atmosphere between them, and consequently everyone, so she promised herself that she'd talk to Brittany the moment she had the opportunity.

"What are you doing?" Brittany's serious voice sounded from the doorway.

Santana let out a little scream and almost fell off of the couch, "Brittany!" Well, she wasn't counting the next opportunity to be right that moment, she was counting on a little more time to prepare herself mentally.

"Santana, why are you lying on the couch?" Brittany took a few decided steps in Santana's direction.

"I… I… thought you were asleep," Santana said lamely. "Didn't want to bother you."

Brittany was having none of it, "Are you uncomfortable sleeping in the same bed as me?"

When Santana hesitated a little with her response, Brittany quickly added, "Is this because of what happened in the bathroom?"

"Brittany…" Santana sighed tiredly as she retracted her legs for the blonde to side beside her on the couch. It was inevitable that Brittany would bring this up, she just wasn't expecting to have to deal with it at this hour of the morning.

"Is it? Because I think –"

"Listen, Brittany," Santana interrupted, gazing briefly into the other woman's eyes. She loved Brittany with all her heart, but after the kiss, she was certain that the blonde didn't love her back. At least was not in love with her. Santana had already spent too much time without Brittany in her life. She'd rather be just friends than ruin their renewed friendship. "I'm really sorry about the kiss. It was a mistake and it shouldn't have happened. I was caught in the moment, I don't know. It won't happen again."

"Oh," was all Brittany was able to say, trying to hide her disappointment. She was completely taken by surprise. She thought that Santana still felt something for her and had decided to give them another try, to take things slow and see where they led, but apparently she and Santana were not on the same page. "Okay."

"You're not mad?"

"Why would I?" Brittany shrugged and lowered her eyes to her lap.

"I don't know, but I'm glad to know you're not. I don't want things to get awkward between us."

_Kind of late for that._ Brittany locked her eyes with Santana's and forced out a smile, "Don't worry, it's already forgotten."

"Great," Santana fake smiled back and tried to hide a yawn behind her hand.

"Come on, let's go to bed. You need to sleep."

Brittany got up from her seat and Santana had no choice but to follow her, folding the blanket before heading to their room.

Santana grabbed some tank top and a pair of shorts, and made her way to the en-suit bathroom they're lucky enough to have, to change and brush her teeth. She splashed some water on her face and placed her hands on each side of the sink, letting out a heavy breath, silently bracing herself for sharing a bed with Brittany. When she got out of the bathroom, she felt the corners of her mouth lift up in a smile. Brittany was on the bed with her eyes closed, snuggling Aaron, who was sound asleep, into her chest. Santana took tentative steps towards the bed and lay down beside the most adorable pair of blondes her eyes had ever seen.

She turned her head to the side and took in Brittany's features. Her eyes and long eyelashes, her nose, the shape of her jaw, her perfect lips… the perfect lips that she was dying to taste again. _Stop it, Santana!_ It was like, now that her body had had a taste after so long, it craved for more. Like a recovering heroin addicted that had its first shot after countless years of staying clean. It seemed like the whole stay friends thing was going to be one hell of a ride, at least on Santana's side.

* * *

**A/N: Once again, thanks for reading :)**


	14. Chapter 14

Santana woke up the next morning with someone lightly poking her nose.

"Tana? Are you awake?" Lily whispered quietly right in front of Santana's face.

"Tana's not here at the moment," Santana grumbled back without opening her eyes.

"But I can see you," the little girl murmured secretly, slowly hopping on the bed next to Santana.

"Shhh, I'm sleeping," Santana said and grabbed Lily by the waist, pulling the little girl to her and placing her chin upon the child's head. Lily, to her surprise, didn't wiggle out of her embrace like she expected, but snuggled even further against Santana's chest.

"But you're talking to me."

Santana did her best to contain a chuckle, "Still sleeping."

"Okay."

The silence lasted about ten seconds.

"But Mommy said to wake you up because lunch is ready."

"Lunch?" Santana opened her eyes, frantically searching for something that told her the time.

"It's half past noon," Santana looked up and found Brittany leaning against the door frame with an amused smile on her face.

"Why did you let me sleep until this late?" Santana placed Lily to the side, jumped out of bed and rummaged the room for something to wear.

"You went to sleep at six in the morning, Santana. You need to rest."

"I can rest later," Santana stated stubbornly, finally settling for some tight jeans and a button up shirt, and headed to the bathroom. "I'm gonna take a shower, I'll be right down."

Brittany just rolled her eyes and shook her head, before extending her hand for Lily to grab, "Come on, honey, let's go get something to eat."

After lunch, all of them, except Mercedes who stayed back watching the kids, went to the destroyed part of the house to clean it up. There were so many things to do, so Santana and Quinn were dealing with fixing the blown up plumbing from three bathrooms so that the water didn't go to waste, at the same time Brittany and Tina tried to get rid of the water that had already accumulated there. The teens were given the task of clearing the floor, which meant cleaning all the glass, wood and other random stuff that was lying around. In summary, they had a lot of work on their hands, and sadly, none of their powers was helpful in their situation.

It was about seven in the afternoon and only the teens were still getting rid of the wreckage. The adults had left about half an hour ago to a meeting in the kitchen to discuss the next steps.

"This is totally unfair, they should be here helping us," Mallory huffed, pushing some strands of hair out of her sweaty face and picking up another piece of wood and throwing it to the side of the house, down to the lawn.

"They've already done their part of the job," Hailey chuckled quietly.

"Yeah, fix up some pipes, big deal."

"Mal, shut up," Matt said, throwing a shovel full of remains down to the lawn. "We destroyed half of the fucking house. The least we can do is clean it up."

"Besides, I'd like to see _you_ fix the pipes," Johanna joined Hailey with a laugh.

"You think I couldn't –"

"Hey, guys," Elle called, throwing some stones out of the way to uncover the rest of an adorned metal box that somehow survived the explosion. The box was a little beaten up but its contents seemed to be intact. "Look what I found."

"What is it?" Hailey made her way to the brunette who was fumbling with the lock on the box.

"I don't know, it's locked."

"Then maybe we're not supposed to see what's inside," Johanna said, looking disapprovingly at the over curious looks on the teens' faces.

"Come on, Jo. You're not even a little bit curious?" Matt bumped his sister's shoulder.

"A little, but if someone's locked a box, it's obvious that whatever's inside is private."

"Well, it's not opening without a key," Elle said, handing the box to Matt who tried to opened it but was not successful either.

"Who do you think it belongs to?"

"Mom, without a doubt," Mallory said eyeing the box.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Just look at it. A fancy box like that it's totally Mom's style."

"Yeah, but what do you think is inside?"

"Don't know, it could be anything," Matt shrugged his shoulders.

"What do we do with it?" Johanna asked, looking around between the others.

"Give it here," Mallory extended her hand to take the box from Elle. "I'll keep it and try to open it. If I can, then we'll look at it together."

"Shouldn't we give it to Mom?" Johanna questioned timidly.

"Nah, she'll think it was destroyed like everything else." Johanna was not convinced, but just nodded her head.

"Okay, let's get out of here," Matt said, looking around at their progress. The floor was practically cleared. Just a final sweep to remove the dust and smaller pieces and it was finished. "It's getting dark; we can finish the rest tomorrow."

"Dibs on the shower!" Mallory clung to the metal box and ran up the stairs. "See you at dinner, losers."

"What a dork," Hailey laughed.

"Card game after dinner?"

"You know it."

* * *

The following day, the floor was swiped and ready to serve whatever purpose Santana had in mind for it before lunch. Once they were all gathered around the table, Quinn started to tell them what they'd agreed on in yesterday's meeting and what the plans were for the day.

"So we're going to separate in two groups, one will learn one on one fighting and other techniques, and the other group will learn how to use a gun. Then we switch."

"You'll let _us_ use a gun?" asked Mallory looking skeptically at her mom.

"If you promise to be responsible, then yes."

"Yes, if you want to and your mother agrees, we don't see a problem," Brittany reinforced.

"That means I have your consent?" Hailey asked her mother expectantly, who just nodded with a laugh.

"Mom?" Elle lifted her eyes nervously in her mother's direction. She felt really anxious about having to talk directly to her mother, but she wanted to train and be able to fight so badly. Her powers wouldn't be useful in fighting and running from zombies, so knowing how to defend herself was on top of her priority list. Santana might not be, or have been, a present mother, but Elle still felt the need to have her approval.

Santana met her daughter's gaze and shrugged her shoulders with a small smile on her face, "You have my permission, now it's completely up to you."

What Elle did next left Santana completely lost for words. She was not expecting her daughter to get up from her seat and throw her arms around her neck, pulling Santana in for a hug.

"Thank you," Elle mumbled against her mom's ear.

Santana tightened her grip before pulling back, "Just be careful okay?"

"Promise," Elle smiled shyly and returned to her seat.

Everyone started to argue about the teams and other stuff that Santana was definitely not listening. How could she when her daughter gave her the first hug after god knows how many years? She was on cloud nine. Her daughter that hated her just gave her a hug! Tears were burning behind her eyes but she did her best to keep them from falling. Santana was feeling a little stupid that a simple hug was making her cry, but could anyone blame her? She had her daughter in her arms and it was one of the best things she'd ever felt. It was even better because it was Elle who had initiated it. Santana didn't know what the future hold, but one thing she was sure, she'd do anything to be able to wrap her arms around Elle again.

* * *

It was almost dinner time and they were still scattered around the lawn. Some of them were learning things like how to throw a punch or get away techniques, taught by Brittany, who'd had body combat lessons when she frequented the gym, and Rachel who believed self-defense classes were a must when you're a big star. The others were learning how to use their guns in a small and improvised shooting range, made with stuff they found at the garage.

Santana was pleased to see that everyone was getting the hang of it only a few hours after the first contact with the guns. She'd begun her "class" by teaching the components of the gun, how to handle them safely, and how to attach and detach a silencer. She then led the group to the targets to put everything into practice. Santana was especially proud of Elle who seemed to be a natural. It was rare the time her daughter didn't hit the inner circle of her target.

"Alright everybody, I think that's enough for today," Santana said when the sun started to hide, earning her a few groans of protest. Apparently the kids were enjoying it more than they initially thought they would.

"Who's doing the night watch today?" Quinn approached Santana as the kids headed inside.

"I'll do it."

"Oh no, you don't. You did it yesterday, you're not doing it again."

"I don't mind. Besides, you only had one hour of gun training. None of you is ready to be left alone with a gun."

"Yeah, but it's only for precaution. It's not like we're going to be invaded by zombies," Quinn rolled her eyes.

"You don't know that," Santana glared.

"Fine, you'll do the shift with me until 3am, and then we'll switch with other two. It's only fair."

"Fine."

And that was their routine for the next couple of months. They'd wake up, train their abilities in the morning and then fighting and survival in the afternoon, or vice versa. They had all improved so much. All of them had learnt to use the guns but some people had adopted other weapons as their favorite. Hailey had taken a liking at the machetes she'd use to fight the zombie back at the gun store. Matt had improved his baseball bat by driving nails at the top, which combined with the boy's force, had become a pretty fatal weapon. And then there was Tina who had tried an axe and had never let it go. Although also knowing how to handle all kinds of different weapons, the great majority preferred guns as their weapon of choice.

The destroyed part of the house had become the perfect training arena. Santana and Quinn had found cheap wire fencing in one of their trips outside, and had placed it all around the edges of the wrecked part, so that the little kids didn't fall if they ever went there – even though they were prohibited of going there for obvious safety reasons – or if one of the more grown-ups got distracted during one of their intense training sessions. The floor was uneven and there were several pieces of columns that had resisted, this way, all of their senses had to be at maximum alert. They had to pay attention to their opponent, as well as where they placed their feet and what was surrounding them.

They'd also been working on their abilities. Hailey could now take an extra person with her when she teleported. Santana had learnt the basics of her power. She soon concluded that she could travel inside electric wires, such as sockets and phone wires, which basically led her to almost everywhere in town. The only downside was the fact that she couldn't carry anything with her. She could come and go, but she couldn't bring anything home. Well, anything besides the clothes she was wearing. She still didn't know why, but she sure wasn't questioning it. It was better than getting butt naked every time she traveled. Still, it was awesome and really useful to be able check if a place was clear or if they'd have company. Quinn's shields were getting stronger and more impenetrable at each passing day, while Matt and Mallory had managed to control their fused personality without exploding the rest of the house.

Brittany's shoulder had healed nicely a few weeks ago an she was doing great with her plants. When they raided a supermarket some days ago, she'd remember to bring a bunch of seed packets so that she could plant them in the yard. There was no fresh food out there anymore. This way they could all eat healthy and not just the canned stuff they'd ate in the time it took to grow the new plants. Well, truth be told, they hadn't waited that long. Thanks to Brittany and her ability, plants seemed to grow three times faster when she took care of them, so taking care of the garden had been her occupation along with the general training. She didn't mind, though. She loved her plants.

Brittany also helped Elle whenever she could. She often volunteered her mind for the teen to explore, or at least try to. You see, with time Brittany had become really good at shielding her mind from Elle scrutiny, but that definitely didn't mean she could let her guard down. Let's put it this way, if Brittany was getting good at shielding her mind, Elle was getting great at trying to break her barriers.

That's where they were now. While the others were moving around, creating flashes of light or wafts that caressed their faces, Elle and Brittany were facing each other, both with fists closed at each side of their bodies and beads of sweat on their foreheads. Normally Brittany would not care if Elle saw any of her earlier memories, but today, Elle had gone to a stage of her life that Brittany didn't want the young brunette to see. Elle was trying to gain access to very peculiar high school memories, and that would undoubtedly lead to her finding out that Brittany and her mom had history together. That meant that Elle would see how in love they were, the kisses they shared, the uncountable hours they spent in bed wrapped in each other's arms. She didn't want Elle to find out like this. If Elle ever came to know the story, Brittany wished that Santana was the one to tell her all about her past, so she just tried to block the teen out of that fragment of her memories with all she had.

Elle, on the other hand, was getting really frustrated. Brittany never made her task of breaking the walls protecting her mind exactly easy, but she'd never fought Elle quite like this. This only led the girl to believe that whatever Brittany was hiding, was worth fighting for. Sure, she knew Brittany was doing her a favor by training with her and that invading her privacy like this was kind of a douchebag move, but the curiosity that filled her body seemed to be clouding her judgment and made her fight the blonde with all her strength. She could feel Brittany's walls crumbling down, brick by brick, so she just threw herself further inside the blonde's mind with renewed determination.

The look on Brittany's could only be described as sheer fear and defeat. That made Elle stop and try to retreat, but it was too late. She was already in. Instantly, images of a teenage Brittany flashed in her own mind.

...

"_San, can we watch a movie?"_

"_Sure, what do you have in mind?" Santana asked as she lay down on the couch, pulling Brittany against her, who snuggled further into Santana's chest._

"_I don't really care, actually," Brittany said, turning to face Santana and bury her nose on the crook of the other girl's neck. "Can we just stay like this?"_

"_Whatever you want, Britt," Santana smiled and wrapped her arms tighter around Brittany's form. She rested her chin upon Brittany's head and reached one hand up to comb her fingers through blonde hair, reveling on the feeling of silky soft tresses._

…

"_Britt, I don't think this is such a good idea," Santana said nervously, looking up at the monstrous yellow rollercoaster._

"_Aw, are you scared? There's nothing to be afraid of. I went, like, five times with my sister, it's not that bad."_

"_I'm not scared! It's just that… I ate a lot, and… I don't want to puke all over you," Santana said lamely._

"_Whatever you say Satan, I can smell the fear from here," Quinn laughed at her friend as she sat in one of the ride cars with the rest of the Glee Club._

_Brittany pulled Santana for a hug and whispered reassuringly in her ear, "Don't worry, San, we can stay here. Oh, and by the way, don't listen to Quinn. I think you smell really nice."_

…

"_Britt, stop it! I can't take it anymore!"_

"_You just have to say that I'm the awesomest person ever and I'll stop," Brittany chuckled, lifting her hand, ready to attack._

"_Never," Santana muffled out, trying to get away from under Brittany who was straddling her hips, keeping her firmly against the bed. Not a second later after Santana uttered the single word, Brittany was mercilessly tickling her, making her laugh uncontrollably._

_Never one to quit, Santana wiggled her body with the last bit of strength she possessed, but instead of freeing herself, she knocked Brittany's elbow, throwing the blonde off balance and making her fall flush on top of Santana._

_Their lips were only inches apart, sharing the same air, but neither girl made a move to back off. Brittany remained on top of Santana, feeling her heart beat wildly in synch with the other girl's and staring deeply into dark eyes. She could see everything. Hesitance, doubt, fear, want, and most of all, love. Santana's soul was totally bare for Brittany to see. She was looking up at her so intensely that the blonde didn't have time to register what was happening before her lips connected gently with Santana's._

_The kiss was simple and lasted less than two seconds, but it was the best kiss of Brittany's life. Her lips were on fire, her mind and body consumed with everything that was Santana. The softness of her lips, the smoothness and addictive smell of her skin…That was a good word to describe Santana: addictive. With just the simplest of kisses, Brittany was hooked. The moment their lips detached, Brittany was left craving more. So she leaned down and connected their lips again._

_Santana fisted blonde hair and pulled Brittany closer to her, softly grazing her tongue against the blonde's bottom lip, silently requesting to deepen the kiss. Brittany parted her lips and slowly darted her tongue out, meeting Santana's in the middle. It was everything a kiss should be. It was slow, sensual, and intense, electricity flowing between them at each gentle brush of their tongues. All of this was making it difficult for Brittany to breathe, so she forced herself to pull away. She rested her forehead against Santana's, breathing heavily against the brunette's lips, "Wow."_

…

_Santana let out a shriek when she entered Brittany's room and three balls of fur ran towards her, rubbing themselves against Santana's ankles._

"_Britt!" She called when she scanned the room and didn't find Brittany._

"_In the bathroom!" Brittany's voice came from the adjacent bathroom door. "I'll be right up."_

"_Care to tell me what are three kittens doing in your room?"_

_Brittany came out of the bathroom, tying her hair up in a messy bun. She couldn't help the smile that formed on her face when she saw the kittens running around Santana, who was trying to push them away with her foot with an unimpressed look on her face._

"_I found them outside my house, roaming in the middle of the road, meowing and looking all lost. I searched for their mother didn't find other unknown cat for another two blocks."_

"_You walked two blocks looking for a cat?" Santana asked disbelievingly. Brittany was too good._

"_Four, actually. Two in each direction," Brittany corrected, picking one of the little kittens and snuggling it to her chest. "I think someone abandoned them. Poor babies."_

_Santana lay down on the bed, supporting herself up with one elbow to look at Brittany, who was now picking up the other two kittens and placing them on the comforter next to their sibling. She was petting them and smiling whenever one of them did something funny or cute, and Santana couldn't help but smile with her. Brittany really had the prettiest smile._

"_I just couldn't leave them there, waiting for something bad to happen to them," Brittany continued. "So I brought them with me. This way I know that they're safe and loved."_

_Santana just listened to the blonde talk with adoration. Brittany was the best person she'd ever met in every way. No one compared to her._

"_I love you."_

_Brittany looked up upon hearing Santana's words. Santana just looked back with warm eyes and smiled. Brittany couldn't believe what she was hearing. Santana was always a guarded person that never shared her feelings, and now this? She was bursting with happiness. Santana just told her she loved her! Yeah, she knew the brunette was still scared, but there, in the confines of the four walls of Brittany's room, she was letting herself go, she was letting herself feel, and Brittany thought that her face would break because of the huge smile that'd taken over it._

_She didn't wait another second. Brittany gently got the kittens out the way and launched herself at Santana, kissing her as passionately as she could, trying to convey everything she was feeling in the kiss. The air was knocked out of her lungs when she felt Santana kiss back with just as much passion and hunger._

"_I love you too," Brittany muttered against Santana's lips. "So much."_

…

"_Are you sure?" Brittany asked as Santana pulled her shirt._

"_Yes, Britt," Santana panted back, placing kisses all over Brittany's neck. "I love you and I want you. All of you."_

_Brittany didn't say anything back, she just pulled Santana to her and clashed her lips against her girlfriend's already puffy ones from the all the desperate kissing. She understood what Santana meant; she wanted Santana just as bad. Brittany wanted to connect with the girl she loved in all possible ways. Tonight their souls would become just one. Tonight they'd be making love._

_..._

Elle forced herself to retreat from Brittany's mind. She didn't want to keep going, especially taking what she was seeing into account. She didn't have the right to violate Brittany's privacy like this. Her heart was beating wildly, spreading the guilt that was flooding her veins to her entire body. Her mother and Brittany?

"Elle…" Brittany was the first to break the silence.

The girl didn't respond. Tears were welling up in her eyes, so she just took off running up the stairs.

"Fuck…"

"What's wrong?" Brittany heard Santana's voice before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, god... I…" How was she going to tell Santana that her daughter knew about them, about their past together? She would freak out!

"What happened? Why did she run out?"

"Santana… I don't really know how to tell you this," Brittany locked her eyes with Santana's worried ones. She guessed it was better to just get it over with. "She knows. Elle knows about our past."

"What?" Santana's eyes widen.

"I'm sorry!" Brittany was in the verge of tears. "I was trying to block her out, but she got so strong these past few weeks that I couldn't hold my walls up. I'm so sorry, Santana."

Santana heart broke a little at the sight of Brittany trying her best to hold the tears in, but failing miserably.

"Shh," she reached up and wiped a tear from Brittany's cheeks with the pad of her thumb. "It's okay."

"I'm really sorry."

Santana enclosed her arms around Brittany and pulled her into a hug, "Don't worry about it," she whispered against the blonde's neck.

It was the first time she allowed herself to be this close to Brittany since the kiss. It was difficult enough to watch from far a sweaty, toned and very much desirable Brittany every time they trained without jumping the woman. Sure, they were civil towards each other, but that was about it.

"I'll talk to her," Santana pulled back and smiled reassuringly.

"I should be the one to talk to her," Brittany sniffled and dried the last tears with her sleeve. Brittany knew things were just starting to get better between Santana and Elle, and here she was, ruining everything. Santana should be slapping her, not comforting her.

"I want to. I think it's the perfect chance to have our long overdue conversation."

"Hey San? Britt? Can we talk for a moment?" Quinn asked. Tina and Mercedes were already getting down the stairs, heading to the kitchen. "I'm going to get Rachel, meet you at the kitchen."

"Sure," Brittany went after Mercedes, with Santana following closely behind.

"Okay, we can't keep on living like this," Quinn got straight to the point as soon as all the women settled down.

"What do you mean?"

"We can't stay in this house forever."

"What do you suggest?" Santana asked, understanding Quinn's point perfectly.

"That I don't know, but our kids deserve better. We're doing the best we can, I know that, but they need an education. School was supposed to have started a month ago. They deserve an education."

"Quinn's right," Tina nodded her head in agreement. "Plus, I know this is just the beginning, but doing what we're doing right now, we could pull this off for several years if the water never ran out. Not gonna lie, I'm worried about the feeding. Yeah, thanks to Brittany we have fresh vegetables and stuff, but let's face it, they're kids. They complain every goddamn day about it and we have Mercedes to think of new ways to cook them differently. It'll only get worse as the days pass. And we can't feed them canned food all the time, it's not good for anyone, but especially for them that are still growing and need a consistent diet."

"I agree, but there's not much we can do," Santana reasoned. "There's no Internet connection, we've searched all TV and radio stations every day only to get to the same fucking conclusion: no one's out there. We're stuck here, unreachable, on our own. Not even our phones have signal."

"That's it!" Quinn exclaimed. "My phone!"

"The same you shattered in a thousand pieces against this very wall?" Santana pointed to the wall on her left and rolled her eyes.

Quinn ignored Santana's sarcastic question and rummaged all the kitchen drawers, "I know it's in here somewhere. Aha!"

The device had been put together, but was barely holding on. Quinn pressed the button to turn it on and nothing happened.

"Maybe the battery is dead," Brittany suggested.

"I have a charger around here," Quinn turned to the drawers once again and soon was smiling in triumph with a charger in her hand. She plugged it in but the phone remained lifeless. "What's wrong with this thing?" Quinn plugged and unplugged it again, only to be met with the same dark screen.

"I think it's broken," Brittany said gently.

"What do you want it for anyways? Even if there was signal, it's not like someone would be there to answer your call," Santana deadpanned.

"James said he would find a way to help me and to have my phone with me," Quinn explained while disassembling her phone to inspect what was wrong with the battery. "I can't believe I forgot about him until now."

"Since he basically gave you a shitty warning and left you to fend for yourself and your kids, I think it's understandable," Santana smiled ironically.

"Shut up, Santana," Quinn glared at her friend. "Right now this is the best change we've got. Does someone have your phone with you? My battery doesn't work, but maybe I can put the SIM card in another phone."

Rachel reached her pocked and fished out her phone.

"Do you still carry that?" Mercedes asked, eyeing the object. To be fair, it was a valid question. It's been weeks since they stopped caring for their phones.

Rachel just shrugged, "You never know."

"Never mind," Quinn sighed defeated, quitting her fumbling with the little card. "It's stuck."

"Give it here," Mercedes reached her hand for Quinn to place the card.

After ten minutes, all of them had tried and none of them had been successful in removing the tiny object.

"I'm gonna ask Matt or Mallory, they know about this kind of stuff. Maybe they can take it out without ruining it," Quinn got up and went up the stairs.

"I'll start dinner," Rachel offered.

"I'll help," Tina joined in. "Mercedes you deserve a day-off… or at least a meal-off since you cooked us lunch."

"Thanks girls, I'll go check on the kids," Mercedes smiled gratefully.

"Do you need any help?" Brittany asked Rachel and Tina who were retrieving vegetables from the fridge.

"Nah, we're good, thanks."

"I'm gonna take a shower then," Brittany smiled and went up the stairs.

"You sure you don't need help?" Santana asked the two women left in the kitchen.

"Positive, we'll take care of it," Tina smiled reassuringly.

Santana nodded and made her way to the second floor to talk to her daughter. She couldn't deny it, she was nervous. She knocked on the door with shaky knuckles and pushed it open when she heard a small 'come in'. Elle was sitting on an armchair looking outside the window with an unreadable expression on her face. That made Santana uneasy. It was easier if her daughter shouted at her or something, that way she knew where the girl stood. Santana picked up the chair from the desk and sat next to Elle.

"How're you doing?"

Elle turned her head to face Santana but didn't say anything.

The older woman was feeling fidgety under her daughter's gaze. She took a deep breath to calm herself, "I understand that you're mad and feel betrayed, but it's the past. There's nothing I, or anyone, can do about it."

"What happened?"

Santana was thrown off by the unexpected question, "What?"

"What happened between the two of you?" Elle asked a little louder, still keeping their eyes locked. "Why did you break up?"

Okay, that was definitely not what she was expecting to come out from Elle's mouth.

"I… I don't…"

"Everything makes sense now," Elle turned her eyes to the window again, not giving Santana time to form a coherent answer.

"What makes sense?"

"The… vibe that I get between you and Brittany. There are such strong emotions flowing between you two. Especially one that I never truly understood until today. Not until I was inside Brittany's mind, feeling what she felt. What she still feels."

"What is it?" Santana asked hesitantly.

"Love," Elle smiled softly, "pure love."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you again for reading, hope you liked it :)**


	15. Chapter 15

_"Everything makes sense now," Elle turned her eyes to the window again, not giving Santana time to form a coherent answer._

_"What makes sense?"_

_ "The… vibe that I get between you and Brittany. There're such strong emotions flowing between you two. Especially one that I never truly understood until today. Not until I was inside Brittany's mind, feeling what she felt. What she still feels."_

_ "What is it?" Santana asked hesitantly._

_"Love," Elle smiled softly, "pure love."_

* * *

Santana felt her heart skip a beat at her daughter's words, but she wouldn't allow hope to grow inside of her. Brittany had loved her. Had. In the past, but not anymore. She lowered her gaze to the expensive carpet underneath her feet, "I'm not sure about that."

"What are you talking about?"

"She's not in love with me anymore."

"How do you know that?"

"I have my ways," Santana said vaguely, remembering how Brittany hadn't respond to her kiss the other day.

"Well, then you have to find better ones 'cause they couldn't be more deceiving."

"And how do _you_ know that?"

"People can say whatever they want, whether it's the truth or not, but emotions… you can't fake what you feel," Elle explained with a smile. "And unluckily for you, I happen to capture those feelings."

Santana remained silent, letting the words sink in. What if Elle was right? Did Brittany still have feelings for her?

"You never answered my question," Elle continued. "Why did you break up?"

The older woman let out a sad sight, "I was too afraid to be with her."

"What?"

"I cared so much about what other people would think of us, of _me_, that I was blinded to see how badly it was hurting Brittany. You have to understand that we're talking about Lima, 20 years ago. We started secretly dating sophomore year of high school. Brittany understood that I needed time to admit to everyone that I, you know… liked girls, and she was so patient. It wasn't easy for any of us, but can you imagine Brittany, all carefree and open about everything, having to keep our relationship a secret. Not be able to kiss or hold hands when every couple around us did. Not once in two years had she said anything to me about our relationship, not once had she pressured me to come out. Not until the end of senior year."

"What happened then?"

"She wanted us to go to prom together," Santana let out a bitter chuckle. "She just wanted to go as friends, not girlfriends, and even then I panicked. Brittany wanted us to have a good time and I ruined everything. Many kids go with their friends to prom, but I thought because we were popular that we'd have to have dates. Boy dates, or else people would start talking.

"She got mad and I can't blame her. We had already gone with other people to our junior prom, even though we were together at the time, and now, the last chance she had to go with me, I went and suggested that we get ourselves a couple of boys to keep up the appearances."

"You were scared, it's understandable."

"I was not scared, I was paranoid back then. I'd rather save my popularity than be with the one who made me the happiest. My stupidity and cowardice cost me her. We didn't talk to each other for a long time. At the end of the school year I found out she was leaving for California, and that was the last time I saw her."

"You didn't go after her?" Elle asked, genuinely curious.

"I went to her house the night before she left."

"And?"

"Nothing," Santana blinked back the tears.

"Nothing? What do you mean nothing?"

"When I arrived, she was on the front porch, talking and hugging a guy. I immediately thought they were together, that she'd moved on. She hadn't seen me yet, so I turned around and left. Turns out they were only friends."

Elle nodded her head as she looked at her mother's pained face. She felt sympathetic with Santana. She couldn't imagine what it felt like to be so afraid of something to the point of losing the love of your life. Yeah, after feeling what Brittany felt, she had no doubt that the blonde and her mother were meant to be. It was weird to be talking so openly with Santana, yet Elle had to admit that this was one of the things she craved most. She always resented Santana for practically abandoning her, but when she was a kid she would lay awake at night thinking about what her mother was like. What she liked, if she was popular or dorky in high school, where did she and her father meet.

That was other of the many things she fantasized about. When she was little, there was nothing she wanted more than seeing her mommy and daddy together, like a normal family. Every year she'd ask Santa, but every year she was let down. At each passing year she stopped believing in Santa and started to believe in just one thing. Her mother was never coming back. Now that she had the whole story, or at least a great part of it, she understood why her mother had never got back together with her dad. She loved someone else. But that only raised one more question. If Santana liked girls, why was Elle sitting there right that moment?

"So are you, like, bisexual? Gay?" Elle felt her cheeks heat up at the question.

"I'm gay," Santana also felt a blush tinting her cheeks.

"So, I don't understand… why am I here?" Elle asked a little hurt. If Santana was gay, why the hell had she had a daughter? That only reinforced her idea that her mother didn't like her. She was not a planned child that much she knew, but knowing that Santana felt nothing for her father was only worse. She hoped that maybe she'd been made out of love, but it didn't seem to be the case.

Santana sighed. How do you tell something like this to your kid?

"Your grandfather is – or was, I don't hear from him since he found out I was pregnant – a very religious person. I hated everything he stood up for, but at the end of the day, I just wanted to please him. He was still my dad. You can imagine how thrilled he was when I started dating your father. He was a good guy, from good families, and everything my father could dream in a son-in-law. Soon after, I joined the military against everyone's will, and in one of my visits home, I got pregnant."

"Oh," was all Elle could manage to say.

"We were trying to keep the flame alive, your father and I, but it just wasn't there. I hate to say this, especially to you, but I don't think I've even felt that flame."

"Why did you marry then?"

"Your grandfather made us," Santana looked at her daughter apologetically.

"Do you still love her?"

The question caught Santana off guard once again. This was way out of her comfort zone, yet at the same time, it was refreshing to be talking about things that were bottled inside of her for so long.

"Yeah, I do. There's only one person in this world that I love more than I love her," Santana answered with complete honesty, gazing deep into her daughter's eyes, "and that person is sitting right in front of me."

At her mother's words, Elle felt tears clouding her eyes and discovered she couldn't keep them from falling. Hearing Santana finally say that she loved her… no, not only that she loved her, but that she loved her above anyone else, was an overwhelming feeling.

"I know you hate me, and I completely understand why," Santana continued, letting some tears fall from her own eyes. "I've been a shitty mom to you all these years. Hell, I wouldn't even call it being a mom, 'cause being a mother means that you're there for your child in every occasion. No matter if is a scraped knee, a good grade or a heart break, you just are there for them. Either to share the joy or to wipe their tears when they cry, it doesn't matter. It only matters that you're there for them every step of the way. And I wasn't. I wasn't there and there's not a single day that I don't hate myself for it."

Santana was openly crying now, shaking slightly with the force of her sobs, and only cried harder when Elle threw her arms around her neck and buried her face in Santana's hair.

"I don't hate you. I could never hate you," Elle cried back against Santana's neck. "You're still my mom and I love you."

They embraced for a few more moments before Santana pulled back, reaching up to wipe the tears from Elle's cheeks.

"Every time I came home I wanted to spend all my time with you, you know. To get to know you, I just didn't know how. I'm so sorry, Elle. I am so sorry for everything I've put you through. No child should have to grow up without a mother. I know I'll never be able to compensate for the past years, but I promise that I'm going to try and be a good mom," Santana let out a nervous laugh through her tears. "I don't really know how to do that – and the circumstances aren't exactly the ideal – but I'll do everything that I can to build this relationship. If that's what you want of course," she finished softly.

Was Santana kidding? Okay, Elle hadn't completely forgiven Santana, but she could tell her mom was trying. Besides, at the moment, there was nothing she wanted more than to get along with her mother. These past few months hadn't been as bad as she thought they'd be in the beginning of the vacation. Well, except the whole zombie thing, obviously. She had made friends, really good ones, from every age group, and most of all, she and Santana weren't screaming or ignoring each other every time they found themselves in the same room. In fact, Elle thought her mother had been great and pretty amazing in leading them through all this. She had to admit, her mom was a badass.

"You have to promise me one thing, though," Elle fought back a smile.

"Anything you want."

"Promise me you'll go after Brittany."

Santana must have the most dumbfounded look on her face, because the next thing she registers is Elle's laugh filling the room.

"I… What?"

"You heard me, go get your woman!"

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because I know the way you feel about each other and I want you to be happy," Elle smiled kindly. "Plus, I really like Brittany, she's great. Not to mention totally hot," the girl wiggled her brows.

"Okay, that's disgusting," Santana let out a chuckle too. "She's old enough to be your mother, literally!"

"I was kidding! Not that she isn't hot, because she totally is, I just… yeah I'm gonna shut up now."

"Do you really think she loves me back?" Santana asked shyly.

"I don't think so, I know so."

Santana felt her heart flutter. She wanted Brittany so badly, and the prospect that the blonde might love her back was just too good to be true. Santana needed to see Brittany, like, right that instance. So she wrapped her arms around her daughter and squeezed her tight, murmuring a soft 'thank you and I love you' in the girls ear, and practically bolted from Elle's room to her shared one, where she hoped to find Brittany.

* * *

Brittany was freshly out of the shower, her hair still wet. She was busying herself by folding some of the few clothes that were left, when Santana entered the room in a rush, without bothering to knock, and advanced with decided steps towards her.

"Santana? What's goin– ?"

Brittany was cut by Santana's hand on the back of her neck and soft lips pressing against her own. She didn't know what the hell was happening, but she definitely wasn't complaining. A second later, Brittany was responding to the kiss just as passionately and hungrily as Santana was kissing her. She let the shirt she was holding fall to the floor and brought her hands up to grip Santana's waist, just as Santana's free hand reached up to cup her cheek tenderly. Brittany darted her tongue out and grazed it urgently against Santana's bottom lip, wanting to deepen the kiss. Santana quickly parted her lips, and as their tongues met in the middle, both women let out a low moan escape from their lips.

Brittany only realized they were moving when her back collided against the wall with a silent thud. Both of Santana's hands were around her neck, keeping her steadily in place as their kiss intensified, to which Brittany was really grateful for, since she was expecting her shaky knees to give in at any second. The kiss wasn't romantic. It was all teeth and tongue, and their lips would surely be bruised from violently crashing against each other, over and over again.

Only when Santana felt her lungs burn with the lack of oxygen did she pull back. She rested her forehead against Brittany's and kept her eyes closed, savoring the aftermath of their mind-blowing kiss.

"Brittany…"

Now that the kiss was over, Santana couldn't help but feel awfully stupid. What was she thinking? Bursting into the room and kissing Brittany again…

"Santana, stop thinking so much," Brittany murmured against Santana's plump lips and leaned forward to connect their mouths again.

This time, the kiss was slower, more intimate. Brittany tightened her grip on Santana's waist, bringing their bodies impossibly close. Santana kept one hand caressing Brittany's cheek, while the other was tangled in the blonde's wet hair. She cherished the way their tongues leisurely massaged one another, taking their time to remember every bit of each other's mouths after many years apart. She was highly aware of their breasts gently grazing each other, making Santana's nipples harden just at the thought of it. Brittany moved her leg slightly to the left so that her thigh was in between Santana's, who let out a mixture of a low moan with a whimper when she felt the light pressure against her center.

Brittany's hands made their way down from Santana's waist to her hips, gripping them firmly and guiding the brunette into grinding against the strong muscles of Brittany's leg. Santana was rapidly losing herself. She was so turned on that it was almost painful. She hadn't had anyone give her an orgasm since… Brittany. She'd only slept with Elle's father after Brittany, and after him, she hadn't had any relationships. It was only her and occasionally her own hand down her pants at the wee hours of the night, her mind filled with thoughts of blue eyes and bright blonde hair.

So, before she made a fool out of herself and she came right there, humping Brittany's leg like a horny teenager, Santana pulled back, breathing heavily.

"God, Britt… we need to stop," Santana watched as the blonde's face fell and a hurtful expression crossed her face. Brittany probably thought she was regretting what just happened between them. "No, no, no! It was amazing and I would kiss you all night if you'd let me," she said between sweet pecks to prove her point. "It's just that if we continue like this, I won't be able to stop."

"Who said anything about stopping?" Brittany said while placing kisses down Santana's jaw.

"Britt…"

"Ugh, fine," Brittany pouted adorably and Santana didn't resist in kissing it away.

"Dinner will be ready in no time and we still have to talk things through."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Santana gave her another reassuring kiss. "Now, go blow-dry your hair before you get sick. We can't afford to have a sick person in this house or else it'll be like living 500 years ago. You get a cold and you die 'cause we don't have meds. And I would rather have you very much alive," she smiled and gave Brittany one more long kiss before heading downstairs.

* * *

Dinner had been great. That or Santana was just in an awfully good mood. Everyone just ate and laughed, making them forget about the world they were living in for a bit. Elle had even projected a playful '_way to go, mom!_' inside Santana's head, upon sensing the shift in her relationship with Brittany. Santana responded by thinking a faux annoyed '_get the hell out of my head'_ back to her daughter.

After dinner – and after the family movie time, of course – Brittany and Santana headed up to their room to finally talk, but were interrupted by Elle knocking on the door. She wanted to apologize to Brittany about earlier so Santana said that she'd be talking Aaron for a little walk around the house to see if the boy would fall asleep.

She returned to the bedroom about half an hour later with the baby sleeping peacefully in her arms. Brittany was draping the covers over her body and smiled brightly when she saw Santana and Aaron.

"Hi," Santana whispered with a smile of her own.

"Give him here and go get ready for bed," Brittany said, extending her arms.

Santana carefully placed the baby in Brittany's arms and kissed her temple before going to the bathroom.

"Don't take too long," she heard Brittany call quietly.

Santana just smiled to herself but she took a shower, brushed her teeth, got dressed and blow-dried her hair in record time. She stepped out of the bathroom and lied down on the bed, turning to her side to face Brittany, who was looking right back at her.

"Hey," Brittany said softly, reaching her hand forward to tuck a strand of hair behind Santana's ear.

"Hey back," Santana smiled adoringly.

"Can I kiss you?" Brittany asked, her eyes darting between Santana's lips and eyes.

Santana didn't respond. She just supported herself on her elbow and leaned forward – careful not to smash Aaron who was sleeping between their bodies – to place a gently kiss on Brittany's lips. When Santana went to pull back, Brittany placed a hand on the back of her neck, pulling her even closer and deepening the kiss by running her tongue along Santana's bottom lip. They kissed languidly, tongues caressing each other for what seemed like hours.

"God, Britt," Santana muttered against the blonde's lips. "I missed you so much."

"Me too," Brittany reached up to peck Santana's lips one more time before resting her head against the pillow. "What made you change your mind?"

"Change my mind?"

"Yeah, you said that the bathroom kiss was a mistake," Brittany explained. "I thought you didn't have feelings for me anymore."

Santana let out a small chuckle, "Of course I have feelings for you. I never stopped having them."

"Then why did you say that?"

"When you didn't kiss me back I… I thought you didn't feel the same way and I'd ruined our sort of renewed friendship. I just didn't want to make you uncomfortable around me and lose you all over again," Santana admitted with a blush.

"Santana… I didn't kiss you back because you never gave me the chance," Brittany cupped Santana's cheek, caressing the soft skin under her thumb. "I was caught off guard and when my brain started working again, you'd already bolted out of the room."

"You wanted to kiss me back?"

"What do you think?" Brittany giggled at Santana's bashful expression. "Of course I did. I still do."

"Good, because I want to kiss you, like, all the time," Santana leaned forward and place soft kisses all over the other woman's face.

"So what are we?" Brittany asked shyly, averting her eyes to the ceiling.

"Whatever you want us to be."

"I want to be with you, Santana."

"But?"

"I don't know how my kids will react."

"You being with another woman?"

"No, of course not. Well, I hope not. I think I taught them better than that."

"Then what are you scared of?" Santana ran her fingers soothingly through Brittany's hair.

"I'm afraid they're going to think I'm replacing their dad," Brittany explained in a small voice. "That I didn't like him or that it's too soon for me to move on."

Santana nodded her head and just continued stroking Brittany's soft hair, sensing that she was not finished.

"And the thing is, I'd also think it's too soon if it were any other person. But it's you, San, and you and I never worked quite like other couples. You're so special to me. I hadn't seen you for twenty years, but it only took you one smile when you stepped out of the car for my heart to skip a beat."

"That's exactly what I felt when I saw you standing in the porch," Santana smiled. "I was so nervous."

"With every smile you sent my way, the feelings I had buried inside were emerging, and then the kiss in the bathroom… well, that was when I realized everything i felt for you hadn't disappeared. It was just all buried deep within me and that I never truly fell out of love with you."

Both of them froze with Brittany's words. Santana because she wasn't really expecting Brittany to still love her. Maybe some hidden feelings that, one day, she hoped would turn into love again. Brittany on the other hand was panicking because she had just said to Santana that she loved her. _What the hell, Brittany? _Santana would be bolting out of the bed the next second.

Santana couldn't take it anymore, she was so damn happy that she leaned forward and pulled Brittany into a lip bruising kiss.

"I love you, Britt," Santana breathed against Brittany's lips. "So much."

Brittany let out a sigh of relieve and gazed into Santana's eyes, "I love you too."

Aaron let out a cute noise, which made them look down and smile at the boy.

"So, can I call you my girlfriend?" Santana asked Brittany, who was still looking down adoringly at her son.

"I really want to be with you, San –"

Santana could sense Brittany's hesitation so she was quick to interrupt her, "I know you're not ready to tell your girls yet, but we can wait, Britt. We can keep this between us."

"How ironic," Brittany smiled sadly. "We broke up because I wanted us to be out and you weren't ready. Now here I am, hurting you again, practically asking you to keep us a secret and pushing you back into the closet."

"Brittany, I really don't care."

"But I do, okay?" Brittany turned on her back, shifting her eyes to the ceiling.

"Brittany, what is this really about?"

Brittany remained silent, fighting back her tears, so Santana reached her hand forward and placed her fingers on Brittany's chin, beckoning the blonde to look at her. "Britt, what is it? You can tell me anything."

"What if…" Brittany started, swallowing the lump forming in her throat and looking uncertainly into Santana's eyes. "I'm scared that you get comfortable with us being a secret again then you'll want to keep things like they are and we fight again. I don't want the story to repeat itself. I lost you once, I don't want to have to lose you twice."

"Oh, Britt, you won't lose me again," Santana laced their fingers together reassuringly. "I'm not the person I was years ago. I let you go once, I'm not stupid enough to do it again. I couldn't care less about who knows that I like women. Besides, Elle already knows about us, and hers is the only opinion that I care about in this matter. Also she seemed really supportive of us, so… you have nothing to worry about."

"She's supportive of us? How do you know?"

"That's the answer to the question I didn't respond to earlier," Santana smiled at Brittany's confused face. _So cute. _"You asked what made me change my mind. Well, Elle did."

"What, how?"

"After what she saw earlier, I went to her room and talked to her about everything that had happened between us, then some more about my relationship with her. In the end, I promised I'd try to be a better mom to her and practically asked for a second chance. She said she'd be willing to try if I promised her one thing."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, she made me promise that I'd come after you."

"She really asked you that?" Brittany asked with a hint of a smile gracing her lips, looking at Santana with disbelief.

"She did," Santana smiled proudly. "She was great during the whole thing, actually."

"So you came bursting into our room and kissed me, just like that?"

"Just like that," Santana confirmed.

"You're crazy," Brittany chuckled, "but I'm so glad you did."

"Me too, now let's sleep. It's getting late." Santana leaned forward and placed a last gentle kiss on Brittany's lips. "Good night, Britt," she said as she lay back on the pillow and caressed Aaron's fine hair.

"'Night, San."

* * *

"It's almost November, I think it's time to make the trip to the mall."

"Santana, we've talked about this. It's too dangerous!"

"It's getting cold, and in case you didn't notice, we don't have warm clothes. We don't have anything, Quinn!"

All of the adults were gathered in the kitchen – the only place they could go without being interrupted – discussing what would be their next move. Not that they were particularly happy with the idea of going outside, but they were in real need for some goods that they'd only get by stepping outside the safety of the front gates.

"Then we'll go to the stores around here, we don't need to get ourselves killed by going into a place which most certainly has a dozen of freaking zombies ready to pounce us at every corner," Quinn said exasperatedly.

"You know as well as I do that we won't find what we need in those stores," Santana rolled her eyes, equally annoyed. "We already went there, remember?"

"I know, I just… maybe we could check the stores one more time?" Quinn sighed tiredly.

"I think Santana's right," Rachel unexpectedly joined the conversation. "Unfortunately, our resources are lacking in every department, and we've already raid every store in our proximity."

"While I won't deny that it's incredibly risky, I also think it's the fastest way to get everything we need," Brittany added as she nodded in agreement.

"It won't be easy, I know that," Santana continued. "But we've been training every day for this. And we also have our abilities. They can be a big advantage for us in this."

"I still think that it can go awfully wrong, but the hell with it, let's do it," Quinn looked between all the women in the room.

"Everyone approves of this?" Rachel asked and all expressed their agreement.

"Great, we need to start planning this as fast as possible," Santana stated, ideas already booming inside her head. "We have to think of every tiny detail."

"I think we should do this with as many people as we can," Brittany reluctantly said.

"Are you suggesting that we include the kids?"

"The older ones, yes."

"Brittany, this is an even crazier idea then going into the mall!" Quinn protested.

"I think they're ready," Brittany continued. "They've worked really hard these past few months, and you know how badly they want to be included. I say we should give them a chance."

"This is insane!"

"It's not that bad of an idea, Quinn," Santana agreed with Brittany. "They've been training inside the gates, but out there is a completely different world. They have practically zero experience outside. Yeah, they've been to some of the smaller raids and helped us take the cars off the main roads but that's it. Imagine if something happens to us and they're left alone, defenseless. They'd have to go outside anyways if we're not here anymore, and I'd prefer that the first times they do go outside, they go with us by their side to protect them."

"Well, if you put it that way," Rachel said quietly. "I know that I don't have children in this situation, and I completely understand the reluctance in this matter, but as I think it is risky, I also think we have better chances of success if we do this as a team. They do have much more useful powers than we do for this situation."

"Of course that there'll be rules," Brittany said. "If things get complicated, they'd have to get out of there as fast as possible. Hailey can teleport with another person now, so she'd take them one by one back to the house in less than 30 seconds."

"Yeah, we could also bring more stuff in less time."

"I'm just afraid that they're reckless and do something stupid," Quinn sighed.

"I think we taught them better than that," Brittany reassured. "They're great kids, all of them. They have good heads on their shoulders, they know better than to do something stupid."

"They're going to be ecstatic," Quinn let out a small chuckle.

"So, are you okay with this?"

"Just know that if anything happens to them, I will never forgive any of you."

"I wouldn't forgive myself either," Brittany nodded. "We won't let anything happen to them."

"Okay, people, let's plan this!"

* * *

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading and for everyone who took their time to review :) Also, i don't know if I'll be able to update this fic two times a week 'cause finals are coming and sadly I have to study. Anyways, you can always leave a message here or on tumblr (brittanysexpierce) if you want to ask something or even just to say hello :)**


	16. Chapter 16

"God, I'm so tired," Hailey groaned as she flopped down on the bed.

"Me too," Mallory said, letting herself fall backwards next to the other girl. "They're really making us work our asses off."

"I guess they just want to guarantee that everything goes according to plan tomorrow."

"I still can't believe they're letting us go with them to the mall."

"I know, I'm so excited!" Hailey beamed towards the ceiling.

It had been two weeks since their moms had sat them down and told them that they could go with them if they wanted to. Stupid question, if you ask them. They'd been dying for an opportunity like this to pop up. Since then, their training intensified. They trained all morning and afternoon, and revised the plan on their free time. They practically ate, slept and breathed the plan. Only after dinner had Santana discharged them for the day and told them to go to their bedrooms and rest because tomorrow they'd have a full day in hands.

"Are you scared?" Mallory asked, turning her head to look at the blonde resting beside her.

"A little," Hailey admitted, also turning her head so that they're looking in each other's eyes. "Are you?"

"Yeah," Mallory said and added in her head '_a lot'._

"You'd have to be a fool if you weren't scared," Hailey said as if she could read the other girl's thoughts. "You have nothing to worry about, though. You've done so well lately."

Mallory felt her heart pick up its pace as gleaming blue eyes stared back at her green ones. She took a couple of seconds longer than she wanted to answer but she finally managed out a slightly choked, "I think you're great too."

"My powers are nothing special compared to yours."

"I definitely disagree with that," Mallory turned her gaze back to the white ceiling.

"I don't see how," Hailey said as she rolled over so that she was lying on her stomach. She reached forward and started playing with the string of Mallory's hoodie. "All I can do is teleport."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the going to places in your mind thing."

"Oh." Hailey used that power so rarely that she almost forgot about it.

"I much rather have that power than mine. All I can do is mess around with water and air, and yeah, I'm not complaining. It's pretty cool, but you have the power to get out of here, to escape this mess. To forget, even just for a little while."

Hailey nodded and tried her best to keep her emotions at bay. She felt like crying at Mallory's confession. She understood perfectly. All this time closed in the same place with the same people could be maddening. She'd do anything to make the girl she'd grown so fond of a little happier. That's when an idea sneaked into her mind.

"Do you want go somewhere with me?"

"Where? We're not allowed to leave the house."

"No, not literally. Like, in our minds. I know it's not the same, but it's the closest thing I can think of."

"Seriously?" Mallory smiled adoringly as Hailey nodded, her cheeks covered in a light shade of pink.

"I mean, I haven't tried it with another person yet, but since I can teleport with a person now, this should be easy."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah."

"Where do you wanna go?" Hailey asked, letting go of the string and turning to lie on her back again.

"Real or imaginary?"

"Whatever you want."

"Somewhere with snow."

"Snow? That's it?" Hailey laughed at the simplicity of the request. "Okay, let's try it."

Mallory's breath hitched when she felt Hailey's hand brushing softly against her own before entwining their fingers together. Hailey sighed, closed her eyes and pictured a snowy scenario in her head. She tightened her grip on Mallory's hand, and the next second, cold wind was blowing softly against her face.

"Open your eyes," Hailey said in a whisper.

Mallory opened her eyes and felt her breath catch in her throat. They were standing in the middle of a small valley, surrounded by mountains covered in the whitest snow. There was a frozen lake on their right and a wooden hut on their left with smoke slowly coming out of the chimney. Birds were chirping, perched on the trees all around them, creating the perfect setting.

"Wow..." Mallory breathed out, absorbing everything around them with wide eyes.

"You can move, you know," Hailey smiled at the awestruck girl beside her.

Mallory beamed back and took a tentatively step forward. She noticed that she was wearing some boots that she definitely wasn't wearing to bed. She took a closer look at Hailey and herself and couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth. How had she not noticed their attire before? Both of them were supporting heavy coats, warm pants and even warmer boots on their feet. Their fingers, still interlocked, were covered with woolen gloves, and a matching scarf was wrapped up comfortably around their necks.

"This is so amazing!" Mallory screamed excitedly to the empty valley and ran forward through the fluffy snow, dragging Hailey behind her by their joined hands.

"Do you like it?" Hailey asked softly when they stopped at the riverside.

Mallory turned to Hailey with an incredulous look on her face. "If I like it? I absolutely love it!" she said and launched her arms around Hailey's neck pulling her in for a hug. "Thank you so much. It's perfect," she mumbled against the blonde's neck.

They pulled apart slowly, none of them really wanting to let go. Mallory reached for Hailey's hand and intertwined their fingers once again, never taking her eyes off of pale blue ones.

"Do you want to skate?" Hailey asked, lowering her head bashfully, finally breaking their eye contact.

Mallory chuckled, "We don't have skates."

"Yeah, we do," Hailey smiled and beckoned the other girl to turn around.

"How…?" Mallory swore that those skates had _not_ been there a few seconds ago.

"Just perks of my awesome power of imagination."

Mallory let out a joyful laugh and placed a quick kiss on Hailey's cold cheek. She then sat down on the snow and put on the skates.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked when Hailey just stood there, still taken aback by the rapid kiss. If her cheek was on fire from the kiss, it was now about to combust with embarrassment. She shook her head, put on her skates, and joined Mallory on the frozen lake.

"Do you know how to skate?" Hailey asked when she saw Mallory struggling a little.

"Barely," Mallory laughed. "I only went a couple of times when I was a kid. Always loved it, though."

"Here, I'll teach you."

"Don't tell me you're a professional figure skater," Mallory teased.

Hailey giggled and glided in Mallory's direction and placed both hands on the girl's waist.

"No, but I do like to think I'm a pretty decent skater." They stepped forward, a little shaky at first but they soon grew more confident, sliding together along the ice. Mallory got the hang of it so Hailey let the girl go. The brunette gave a total of five steps forward before losing her balance and falling on her ass, making Hailey burst out laughing.

"You think it's funny uh?" Mallory said in a challenging tone, trying to pull herself up. "I don't see you doing any better."

"Oh, you're on," Hailey let out a final chuckle and winked at the girl on the floor before launching herself forward and sliding hastily along the ice. She glided backwards, did a couple of hard twists and spun around gracefully. To the grand finale, she effortlessly lifted her leg to touch her head, holding the blade of the skate to keep her pose, and skated in circles around Mallory, who was still sprawled on the floor, watching Hailey with her mouth slightly opened.

"You were saying?" Hailey asked as she came to a halt in front of Mallory.

"Not fair, you _are_ a pro!"

"I took some lessons, but I'm definitely not a pro," Hailey laughed and extended her hand for Mallory to take.

"I hardly believe that it were just _some_ lessons."

"Fine, I did figure skating almost 'til high school. Nothing serious, just for fun."

"Just for fun?" Mallory laughed disbelievingly.

"I always loved dancing," Hailey started to explain, taking Mallory's hand and starting to skate around as she talked. "I dance basically since I can walk, but when I was about five, my mom took me to see a Disney on Ice show and since then I wanted to know how to dance in skates too. My mom signed me up for figure skating, but nothing serious. I gained muscles and agility in dance so it wasn't that hard to pick up figure skating moves."

"And you had time for all of that _and_ school?"

"That's why I quitted skating a year before high school. I wanted to really focus on my dancing."

"You know, I've yet to see you dance."

"So let's dance!" Hailey laughed at Mallory's panicked look when she raised their joined hands, turning them so that they're facing each other, and placed the other hand on the girl's back.

"Now? I can hardly stand, let alone dance!"

"Come on, move your right leg forward and I'll move my left back," Hailey incited as she began to guide them around the ice.

Even though she was terrified of falling on her ass again – it was just a matter of time, really – Mallory couldn't help but laugh at their silliness. She didn't remember the last she had this much fun. Maybe it was because she really enjoyed the company. Hailey was cute and adorable and so great to be with. She found herself gazing into Hailey's eyes, most probably with a stupid grin on her face, but she didn't care. She only focused on Hailey's perfect smile, the cute red tip of her nose from the cold, and the way the corners of her sparkly blue eyes wrinkled adorably as she smiled.

"Now, a twirl," Hailey said and Mallory barely had time to register the worlds before she was spun around. She was totally unprepared, so next thing she knows, she's falling backwards, but this time, not alone. Malloy hadn't let go of Hailey's hand, so when she fell, she pulled the blonde with her.

Hailey fell on top of Mallory, laughing like a mad girl.

"You should've seen your face."

"I can't believe you thought we could pull off a twirl," Mallory joined the laughter.

"Oh, I know I can pull off a twirl, it was entirely your fault," Hailey smiled down brightly at Mallory, who just huffed indignantly.

"Sorry if I don't know how to _dance_ on the freaking ice, I didn't even want-"

Mallory's rant was interrupted by soft lips pressing against hers. It took her a second to respond, but as soon as her brain started to work again, she kissed Hailey back. She detached their lips for less than a second, just to connect them again a little harder, more passionate. She felt something wet and velvety brush her bottom lip, and readily opened her mouth to let Hailey's tongue explore her mouth. Mallory brought her hand up to Hailey's neck, gently pulling them closer together, as they continued slowly exploring each other's mouths.

"Take us back," were the words that left Mallory's lips as soon as they parted.

Hailey nodded and sat up, trying to hide the hurt creeping up her veins. She couldn't decipher Mallory's expression. She had acted in the heat of the moment, but she had wanted to do that for a long time. Hailey thought that Mallory liked her back, and everything was going great, the snow, the laughter, until she kissed Mallory. She didn't want to go back. Going back meant switching back to reality. She was afraid that as soon as they opened her eyes, back in their bed, Mallory was going to reject her, or worse, that they lose their friendship. But what choice did she have? With an imperceptible sigh, Hailey grabbed Mallory's hand, closed her eyes, and even though she hadn't opened her eyes yet, Hailey knew they were back in their room.

"Hailey?" Mallory called softly. Hailey had yet to open her eyes and it was making Mallory uneasy.

As soon as the blonde opened her eyes and Mallory saw the hesitance and fear looking back at her, she let out a little laugh of relief and leaned forward, crashing their lips together. Hailey was quick to catch on, pulling Mallory fully on top of her, placing both hands on the girl's waist and slightly squeezing the warm skin under her fingers. They were back to their sleepwear, which consisted in a simple hoodie and shorts, so when Mallory's top rode up and their bare stomachs grazed against each other, both girls let out muffled moans at the sensation.

Things were quickly heating up; their kisses grew wilder, their hands explored a little bit further than they should.

"We have to stop," Hailey panted, placing her hands on Mallory's shoulders and gently pushing back.

Mallory nodded wordlessly, still breathing heavily, and rolled to Hailey's side, immediately wrapping her arms around the girl and pulling her close against her body.

"Why did you want to come back?" Hailey asked quietly after a while.

"I wanted to be sure that it was real," Mallory shrugged, feeling her cheeks heating up. "We were in an imaginary place, I didn't want the kiss to be imaginary too."

That wasn't what Hailey was expecting to hear. She expected dismissal and hesitance, so hearing these words made her heart flutter with happiness. Mallory couldn't have said a sweeter thing right that moment. She leaned her head back and placed a quick kiss to Mallory's neck, which made Mallory turn her head to Hailey and kiss her fully on the lips.

"Come on, we need to sleep," Mallory said as she shimmied under the covers and waited for Hailey to do the same before throwing the covers over their bodies.

Hailey grabbed Mallory by the waist and pressed her front against the brunette's back. Mallory turned the bedside lamp off and snuggled further against Hailey's warm body, smiling slightly into the dark room.

"'Night, Hailey."

"Sleep tight, Mal."

* * *

The sun had barely made its appearance in the horizon but practically everyone was already moving around the house. They had all woken up extra early to set everything up for their trip to the mall. Mercedes and Tina were staying behind with the younger kids, who were still asleep – this included Johanna much to her dismay – so they offered to make breakfast for them all.

Santana grabbed a piece of toast and headed down to the garage to prepare the cars. They'd decided to take both Quinn's jeep and Escalade since they were too many people to fit inside only one car. The jeep didn't really need anything specific. Just a tank full of gas and they'd be ready to go. They'd settled that the Escalade was going to carry most of the stuff they'd bring from the stores. The car had seven seats, but in order to fit as many things as they could inside, Santana had the job to remove the back row seat, living the car with four seats and lots of empty space.

There were soft footsteps coming down the stairs and Santana didn't have to look to know who they belonged to. Soon she felt strong but delicate arms wrapping around her waist, pulling her gently back against a warm and comforting body.

"How are you?" Brittany asked while placing soft kisses against the skin of Santana's neck.

"Kind of nervous, to be honest," Santana said and let herself fall completely against Brittany. "Much better now that you're here," she added with a smile.

Brittany smirked and turned Santana in her arms, pulling her in for a kiss. Santana brought her hand up to the blonde's neck and practically forced her tongue between Brittany's lips. The kiss that started soft and playful soon shifted to needy and desperate. Both women were clinging to each other and kissing like it was the last time they'd be able to taste each other's lips. It could very well be. Every emotion running through their veins was being poured into the kiss. Fear, uncertainty, apprehension, devotion, passion, love. All these emotions, and so many others, were being shared between them with each brush of their tongues against one another.

The kiss suddenly became wetter and it took Santana a moment to realize that tears were running down her cheeks. She pulled back, resting her forehead against Brittany's, and opened her watery eyes to look into equally glossy ones.

"Promise me you'll be careful," Brittany pleaded through her tears. "Please, Santana."

"I promise," Santana assured. "I have something worth living for now."

"Just come back to me."

"You too, Britt. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"I love you," Brittany leaned forward and placed the softest kiss against Santana's lips.

"I love you too."

Santana enveloped her arms tightly around Brittany's torso and buried her face on the crook of the blonde's neck. Brittany mirrored her actions. Neither talked or even moved. They just stood there, breathing in each other's scents, appreciating the comforting warmth… just being.

After several minutes, Brittany pulled back and interlaced their fingers. "I'm going to head up quickly and kiss Aaron and Lily goodbye. Want to keep me company?"

Santana nodded in agreement. She already loved these kids to death, how could she refuse such thing?

"Of course."

* * *

"Everyone ready to go? Got your guns and everything?" Santana asked and they all nodded. "Good, let's go."

It was a little after eight when they left the house. Santana went first, driving the Jeep, with Quinn, Hailey, and Elle. Brittany drove the Escalade behind them, with Rachel on the passenger seat and Matt and Mallory in the back, who chose to stay together due to their merging ability.

They drove slowly, both to be as quiet as they could and to save gas. It took them half an hour to get to the mall and the anxiety in the vehicles was growing stronger at each passing minute.

When Santana laid eyes on the large building, everything was quiet. Nobody was in sight. She decided to pull the car over to the side of the road for a last talk before going inside.

"Why are we stopping?" Brittany asked, stepping out of the Escalade and walking towards Santana.

"Just wanted to check on everybody," Santana stated, looking around between the people who had stepped out of the cars and joined them. "It's not too late to go back home," she added mostly addressing the younger kids, but none of them budged.

"Okay," Santana continued when no one showed signs of wanting to leave. Well, besides Rachel's almost pale green face, beads of sweat in Quinn's forehead, and Santana's own shaking hands. "Let's do this. Everyone remembers the rules? Weapons ready to attack at any moment?"

All nodded in agreement.

"Do we take the cars near the door?" Quinn asked.

How had they not thought about that? Santana pondered for a little while before answering. If the car was parked at the door it'd be quicker to load the stuff and to drive away from there, but that way, if they had zombies on their tails, it'd be easier for the zombies to reach the car.

"I don't know what's best," Santana replied honestly.

"Maybe several meters away from the door would be wiser," Rachel suggested.

"Fine by me," Quinn shrugged. "Come on."

They all returned to the cars and drove towards the mall entrance. Santana pulled over a little far away from the doors and saw Brittany do the same through the rearview mirror. She hopped out of the car, leaving the keys in the ignition in case of an emergency escape. After making sure that her combat boots were tighten and checking if she had enough ammo, Santana zipped up her jacked, stuck an empty duffle bag in her back pocket, and grabbed her gun with stiff fingers. It was a cold November morning and the sky was turning an angry shade of grey.

"Ready, everyone?" She asked one more time.

"Let's do this," Quinn said, also zipping up her jacket.

Santana turned her head to the side to look at Brittany who was already looking back at her. They engaged in a silent conversation with their eyes, a skill they perfected in their teenage years.

"_Be careful."_

"_I will. I love you."_

"_I love you too."_

With her gun raised in front of her, Santana walked towards the big glass doors and pushed them open as slowly and quietly as possible. Everything appeared to be calm. No undead walking around anywhere, just some purses, pieces of shredded clothes, and lots of dry blood on the floor.

"Stay together and let's go," Santana muttered and stepped forward.

They made their way silently to the nearest store. It was a clothes store so Santana decided to see if it was empty before they all went inside.

"Wait here, I'm going to check if there's anything there."

"I'm coming with you," Quinn stepped forward. "Protective shields and everything. They might come in handy."

"No, stay here. The shields may be more useful out here. I'll be right back."

Santana passed the store door, her senses highlighted and her heart pumping rapidly against her ribcage. It was a medium sized store, and it took her five minutes to rummage the entire thing. It was only missing the storage in the back, which was basically the most important room for them. It had all the clothes of the store but already folded and easier to select because of the clear labeling. Not that they had plans of picking the clothes. They'd take whatever they could lay their hands on. It's just that they didn't need to waste space with clothing sizes that didn't fit any of them.

With trembling fingers, Santana pushed the storage door open and pointed the gun forward, ready to shoot at any sign of movement. It was one damn scary sight. All the corridors separated by high shelves filled with clothes, casting weird shadows on the walls and floor, and blocking her vision to the sides. She advanced cautiously, searching every corner for unwanted company. So far, Santana had found nothing. She was in the middle of the last corridor when she sensed a presence behind her. She turned in her spot and her finger pressed lightly on the trigger.

"Fuck!" Santana hissed under her breath and almost dropped her gun. "What's with you Pierce girls? Do you have a death wish or something?" she asked a little louder.

"What?" Hailey asked confusedly, clutching to the machete in her hand.

"Don't sneak on people like that, I could have hurt you," Santana reprimanded.

"I'm sorry," Hailey murmured apologetically. "You were taking too long so I came to check on you."

"You?"

"I'm the one who can bolt out of here in a blink of an eye if needed."

"Point taken. I was just finishing this corridor, but I think we're clear. We can tell the others to come in and start loading the duffle bags."

"Okay, I'm going to let them know," Hailey said and disappeared in front of Santana's eyes.

Santana had seen Hailey vanish into thin air endless times in the past months, but it was a thing she never got used to. She shook her head, pulled her own duffle bag from her back pocket, and started to shove things inside. She tried to select what seemed to be basic, comfortable items of clothing. Other thing she took into account was to pick various colors. It would be kind of weird if they all walked around dressed with the same models and colors. Soon the other girls filled the room. All started to stuff the bags with quick but silent movements.

"Mine's full," Santana said, carrying the bag towards Hailey.

"I'll take it to the car," Hailey stated and reach her hand to take the full bag.

"Are you sure you can take someone with you as well as the bag?"

"Positive," Hailey smiled.

"Quinn?" Santana called, looking for the woman's blonde head.

"Yes?" Quinn answered, appearing at the end of the aisle.

"Can you go with Hailey to empty the bags in the car?"

"Sure, let's go," Quinn extended her hand for Hailey to grab. A second after, the space previously occupied by the two girls was vacant.

Santana grabbed Hailey's half full bag and finished stuffing it. Not three minutes later Hailey and Quinn were back with an empty bag, just to take another one and disappear again. They repeated the process until they agreed that they had enough adult clothes. Next stop, kids store.

They exited the store and silently passed stores down the hallway until they found one that had all kinds of things for babies and young children. This time they all went inside to inspect the store for possible intruders – well, they were technically intruders too.

The store was also free of undead. Santana built the theory that the lack of zombies was due to them being on the top floor which was exposed to more sunlight than the lower floors. If this was true, what she really dreaded wasn't being up here packing clothes. The worst would be going two floors down to the supermarket. She pushed those thoughts momentarily to the back of her mind. She would worry about it when the time came. Now she had to focus on the task at hands.

Santana made her way through the storage room, taking a quick look around the shelves. She smiled when her eyes found what she'd been looking for. Reaching up, Santana retrieved two portable baby cribs – for both Aaron and Abby – from the shelf and called Hailey to go with her put it in the car. Abby should be moving to a little bed, but obviously, they couldn't get one right now, so they had to settle for a crib. This way Quinn wouldn't have to constantly be alert if the girl fell out of bed or something. Same thing with Aaron. Santana loved the baby boy and didn't mind sleeping with him but she always dreaded squishing or hitting him in her sleep.

Santana was pleased to see that the car still had lots of space to fill. Hailey and Quinn and done a great job arranging the clothes. They tucked the folded cribs in a corner and went back to the store. Everything was calm and several bags were already full and waiting for Hailey to take them to the car.

Half an hour later, the kids' clothes and some toys were securely in the car. It was now half past ten and Santana's nerves were increasing. The lack of encounters with zombies was starting to get to her. It made her fidgety, waiting for something to jump them at any second. They were now making their way down the escalator, which was still working. It was really amazing that they still had electricity. Their destination was the supermarket on the bottom floor, but something in a window display caught Santana's attention. She stopped in her tracks, causing Brittany to bump into her.

"Sorry," Santana smiled apologetically. "I'll be right back." And with that she entered the shop and retrieved a box containing a walkie-talkie from the display. She wandered a little further into the store and found more boxes identical to the one on her hand. She piled them up against her chest and yanked several packages of batteries from the supports.

"Here," she murmured as she returned from the store and practically ripped the cardboard boxes holding the devices. "We have to separate in groups of two or three when we get to the supermarket or else we'll take too long."

Santana handed the other three walkie-talkies and a couple of batteries. Soon, four low beeps signaling that the devices were working could be heard in the deserted hallway.

"Okay, set them to channel 8," Santana said while fumbling with her own walkie-talkie. "All done? Can you hear me?" She asked as she pressed the side button. Her slightly muffled voice sounded from the other three devices and she smiled pleasingly. She asked them to say something to check if all were working okay before heading downstairs.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Brittany whispered in Santana's ear. They were in front of the supermarket entrance and everything was still quiet, filling them with a false sense of security.

"I know, but we need to go in," Santana said quietly. "Okay, it's time to split up if we want to be as quick as possible," she spoke in a louder whisper to the other girls.

They nodded and stepped closer to their respective partners. They had established at home that each adult should partner up with a teen, except for Matt and Mallory who would be stronger if they stuck together. Quinn wasn't too keen in leaving her babies to fend for themselves, but after her, the twins were the most powerful of them all. In the end, they'd settled for Santana and Elle, Brittany and Hailey, Quinn and Rachel, and of course, Matt and Mallory.

"Alright, grab a cart," Santana instructed, pointing at the shopping carts near the entrance, "don't get too far away from each other, and please, make as little noise as you can. Let's get this over with."

Santana made her way towards Elle who was already clutching a cart in her hands. With a nod to her daughter and a last mouthed 'be careful' to Brittany, the girls walked into the supermarket and got down to work.

Each little group got in charge of one aisle, their hands working fast, emptying the shelves with goods that were still suitable for consumption, which were still a lot. They got their hands on as many packages of rice, pasta, sugar, cereal, shampoo and many other things as they could. The only products they couldn't take were the fruit, vegetables, bread, meat, and fish that were rotting and filling the supermarket and their nostrils with its putrid smell.

Nevertheless, there was still much to carry to the cars. Hailey had been tirelessly, running back and forth between the aisles and teleporting with the carts as well as Brittany countless times. The pair only got to fill their own cart once. After that, every time they came back from emptying the shopping cart to the car, someone was already telling them about their location. They had to find them, leave the empty cart and take the full one back to where the cars were parked.

Hailey was in her tenth trip and she could feel her body becoming tired. Some carts were easier to teleport like the ones filled with toilet paper and napkins, but others were really making her sweat. It was the case of her previous trip in which she carried a cart full of canned food.

"You okay, baby?" Brittany asked upon seeing Hailey's slightly heaving chest.

"Yeah, just getting a little tired."

"We can take a break if you want to."

"Thanks, Mom, but I'm fine. Let's take this back to the car," Hailey smiled and grabbed both the cart and her mom's hand, disappearing once again.

When they returned, another cart was already waiting for them. Hailey let go of the empty cart, took a discreet deep breath, and grabbed her mom's hand and the new cart full of bottles and cartons of juice. She closed her eyes and focused on taking them to the car, but nothing happened. Hailey took another deep breath and tried again, only to obtain the same result.

"Is something wrong, honey?" Brittany murmured worriedly.

"I-I don't know why, but I can't teleport," Hailey explained nervously.

"Do you feel anything different?"

"No, just a bit tired."

"Rest for a bit."

"I'm fine," Hailey insisted. "You go see if anyone needs help and I'll take the things to the car. I don't think I can take the weight of a person with me."

"You're not going alone!"

"I have to! Either that or we starve."

Brittany rolled her eyes, "Please, we already have the contents of seven carts packed in the car. I'm sure we 'll be fine in that department."

"I'll be fine Mom, I can do this," Hailey said, looking determinedly into her mother's eyes.

"If you notice that something's wrong, you teleport right back to Quinn's house, you understand me?"

Hailey nodded once and then disappeared with the cart before Brittany could change her mind.

"Does anyone need help?" Brittany muttered into the walkie-talkie.

"_Our cart's almost full, you can come and get it. Aisle 12_," Quinn responded.

"Uh, Hailey's not with me..."

"_What? Brittany, what happened?"_ Santana's urgent voice sounded from the device in Brittany's hands.

"She's getting tired. She can't take me with her anymore, too much weight."

"_Let's hurry up then."_

Brittany walked down the corridors trying to find the others. She saw Matt and Mallory filling the cart with diapers, wipes and general baby stuff and decided to stay with them since they were the only ones without an adult. She made her presence known, before having a bullet craved in her brain, and started to help the twins by retrieving baby food and infant cereals, and put it in the cart along with all the baby stuff.

Soon their shopping cart was full, but things were moving significantly slower now that Hailey was working alone. They had only heard the girl once on their walkie-talkies since she left Brittany and hadn't come back yet. Matt, Mallory and Brittany sat on the floor waiting for Hailey to return, worry growing at every passing second.

Finally, Hailey slightly out of breath voice came softly from the speakers, "_I'm back, who's next?_"

"_You can go, Brittany. You guys have been waiting for a longer time," _Elle said from some other corridor.

"Okay, we're in aisle 10, honey," Brittany spoke quietly.

A moment later, Hailey was appearing at the end of the corridor.

"You okay?" Mallory asked, eyes examining the girl's obvious exhaustion.

"I'm fine," Hailey said and handed the walkie-talkie to her mother in order to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

"Where's the empty cart?"

"The Escalade is full and there's just a part of the jeep's trunk left. I don't think it can hold more than the two carts already waiting. Besides, I don't think I can handle much more trips to the cars," Hailey sighed dejectedly.

"It's okay, sweetie," Brittany smiled softly. "You do what you can."

"I can take a couple more, I'll be right back," Hailey whispered, grabbed the cart and disappeared in front of the three.

"Come on, let's find the oth–" Brittany stopped dead in her tracks when she was interrupted by two successive deafening crashes coming from a few aisles down. Someone had dropped something made of glass on the floor.

"Fuck," Matt cursed under his breath, looking completely terrified between the two girls. Brittany didn't even reprehend him, because yeah, fuck indeed. A loud grunt echoed from outside the supermarket, making Brittany start to tremble. It could only mean one thing. _They_ were coming.

"_Aisle 12, everyone! Now!_" Santana screamed into the walkie-talkies.

* * *

**A/N: Once again, thanks for reading guys!**


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